UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT   LOS  ANGELES 


CHARLES    S.    KEYSER, 

Author  of  "FAIRMOUNT  PARK." 


6286-12 

I'HIl.ADKl-I'lflA: 

DAVID    McKAY, 

23  SOUTH  NINTH  STREET- 
»  1882. 


i7o«;     PENN'S  Treaty  with  the  Indians.     By  Charles 


PENN'S  TREATY 


WITH    THE 


INDIANS. 


CHARLES  S.   K.EYSER. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

DAVID     McKAY, 

No.  23   SOUTH   NINTH   STREET. 

1882. 


Copyright  by  CHARLES  S.  KEYSER,  1882. 


PRINTERS    AND     ELECTROTYPERS. 
PHILADELPHIA. 


'x 


TO 

HORACE  J.  SMITH, 

OF 

GEORGE'S  HILL 
A  DESCENDANT  OF  JAMES  LOGAN, 

THE 

FRIEND  AND  COMPANION 

OF 
WILLIAM  PENN. 


426177 


PREFACE. 

IN  this  book  is  narrated,  as  our  fathers  transmitted  it  to  their  chil- 
dren, the  story  of  the  Treaty,  the  Founder  of  our  State  made  with  the 
Aborigines,  at  Shackamaxon.  To  its  pledges  his  children  and  his  fol- 
lowers were  true  ;  unbrokenly  for  generations.  We  preserve  its  mem- 
ory, sacred  in  act  and  spirit  in  our  generation,  "so  that  his  and  our 
posterity  will  be  as  a  long  chain  of  which  he  was  the  first  link,  and 
when  one  link  ends  another  succeeds  and  then  another,  being  all 
firmly  bound  together  in  one  strong  chain  to  endure  for  ever.'' 

Two  Centuries  have  passed  away  since  it  was  made,  "but  these  are 
but  a  few  years  and  like  as  yesterday  in  the  life  of  a  nation  ;  never- 
theless, following  that  Great  Man's  peaceable  Councils,  this  govern- 
ment has  now  become  wealthy  and  powerful  in  Great  Numbers  of 
People." 

PHILADELPHIA,  1882. 

(vii) 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

DEDICATION v 

PREFACE vii 

IN  MEMORIAM ix 

PENN'S  TREATY i 

THE  LINKS  IN  THE  CHAIN  OF  THE  TRADITION 15 

THE  LAND  TITLES 22 

THE  GREAT  TREATY 35 

THE  TRADITION  AMONG  THE  INDIANS 68 

STATEMENTS  OF  THE  WRITERS 70 

THE  TREATY  TREE   88 

THE  FOUNDER'S  WORK  AND  WORTH 94 

POSTFACE..                                        .  100 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

DESIGN,  PENN'S  TREATY (to  face  Title] 

WEST'S  TREATY 8 

TAWARAH'S  SIGNATURE 14 

THE  PORTRAIT  IN  ARMOR 16 

A  STRING  OF  WAMPUM. 21 

TAMANEN'S  SIGNATURE 22 

A  STRING  OF  WAMPUM 34 

THE  WAMPUM  BELT 35 

THE  NATIONAL  MUSEUM  PORTRAIT.  . .    '. 36 

LASSE  COCK'S  SIGNATURE 56 

THE  TREATY  TREE 57 

A  STRING  OF  WAMPUM 67 

THE  WAMPUM  BELT 68 

THOMAS  CLARKSON 82 

MALEBONE'S  SIGNATURE 85 

THE  PROPRIETARY  ARMS 87 

THE  PENN  MONUMENT .  92 

AN  ELM  BRANCH .'. 93 

THE  PENN  ARMS    99 


IN   MEMORIAM. 

"WHEN  WE  COMMEMORATE  THE  MANY  BENEFITS  BESTOWED  ON  THE  INHABI 
TANTS  OF  THIS  COLONY,  THE  RELIGIOUS  AND  CIVIL  LIBERTIES  WE  POSSESS,  AND  TO 
WHOM  THESE  VALUABLE  PRIVILEDGES  ARE  OWING,  WE  SHOULD  BE  WANTING  TO 
OURSELVES  AND  THEM  WE  REPRESENT  DID  WE  NOT  DO  JUSTICE  TO  THE  MEMORY 
OF  OUR  WORTHY  ANCESTOR,  A  MAN  OF  PRINCIPLES  TRULY  HUMANE,  AN  ADVOCATF 
FOR  RKLIGION  AND  LIBERTY." — A.  HAMILTON,  1734. 


(ix) 


PENN'S    TREATY. 

tHIS  memorable  treaty1  was  made  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  month  of  November,  in  the  year  1682. 
The  place  was  Shackamaxon2  on  the  Delaware  River, 
now  a  portion  of  one  of  the  wards  of  the  City  of  Phila- 
delphia. It  was  then  the  site  of  an  Indian  village.  An 
Elm  Tree  stood  there,  which  for  its  relation  to  the  event 
was  preserved  thereafter  by  the  Colonists,  and  British 
Soldiers,  through  the  Revolution  ;  it  was  still  standing 
there  until  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  when 
it  fell  during  a  heavy  storm3.  Three  nations  of  the 

1  "  The  great  Treaty  was  not  for  the  purchase  of  lands  but  confirming  what  Penn 
had  written,  and  Markham  covenanted,  its  sublime  purpose  was  the  recognition  of 
the  equal  rights  of  humanity." — Bancroft,  Vol.  II.,  p.  383. 

J  "  Sakima — the  place  of  Kings ;  '  Sakima '  means  a  King  in  the  Delaware 
language — '  ing,'  is  the  Indian  termination  indicating  locality,  or  the  place  where 
Chiefs  meet,  or  resort  for  conferences  or  treaties." — //.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  II, 
p.  113. 

3  Midnight,  March  5-6,  1810.    "  The  Register,"  March  7,  1810.    Merc.  Library. 

The  daughter  of  the  last  owner  of  this  tree  married  a  chief  of  the  Cherokee 
Nation,  Lewis  Downing,  who  served  during  the  rebellion  in  the  Union  army ;  they 
are  both  (1882)  deceased. 

A  coarse  piece  of  Indian  pottery  was  found  embedded  in  the  roots  when  it  was 
blow.i  down. — Martin's  Chester,  p.  53. 

(I) 


Aborigines  had  their  representatives  in  the  Assemblage,, 
the  Lenni  Lenape,  or  Delawares,  the  Mengwe,  or  Six 
Nations,  and  the  Shawanese  Nation,  which  had  gone 
Northward  from  the  South  to  the  Susquehanna;  the 
tribes  of  the  Gawanese  and  the  Conestogas,  had  also- 
their  representatives'.  Tradition  assures  us  that  the 
Founder  was  accompanied  by  members  of  his  Council ; 
also  by  his  Interpreter2;  by  members  of  his  persuasion^ 
and  by  Dutch  and  Swedes — the  first  settlers,  drawn 
there,  by  their  interest,  or  their  curiosity3.  In  the 
changed  condition  of  the  locality  by  the  wharves,  and 
by  the  streets  and  houses,  its  original  character,  is  yet 

1  "  Lenni  Lenape  is  synonymous  with  the  Delawares;  Mingoes  or  Mengwe,  with 
the  Iroquois,  and  five  and  six  nations." — Heckewelder,  p.  xxxiv. 

The  name  Iroquois  was  given  by  the  French. — La  Trobis  Loskiel,  p.  2. 

The  name  Lenni  Lenape  means  original  people;  "a  r.ice  of  human  beings  w  ho> 
are  the  same  that  they  were  in  the  beginning,  unchanged  and  unmixed ;  "  the  name 
ha*  also  been  defined  as  "  Indians  of  the  same  nation." — Hecknvelder,  p.  xii. 

The  Lenni  Lenape  are  never  heard  to  say,  "  the  six  nations,"  and  it  is  a  rare 
thing  to  hear  these  people  named  by  them  otherwise  than  Mengwe. — Ib. 

The  Shawnese  and  Shawanese  were  the  same  nation,  the  Conestogas  v  ere 
Mingoes,  the  Gawanese  was  a  tribe  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  nations. 

'l  "  The  Swedes  acted  as  his  interpreters,  especially  Capt.  Lasse  Cock." — Acreliits 
M.  If.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  XL,  p.  114.  "He  spelled  his  name  also  Lass  Cock.  His 
house  was  near  the  place." — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  48.  The  name  is  a  contraction 
of  Lawrence. 

"  He  feared  there  might  be  some  fault  in  the  Interpreter,  being  neither  Indian  nor 
English." — Pi-iin  to  Soc.  of  Free  Traders,  Aug.  6,  1683. 

*  Swedes  and  Dutch. — Dixon,  p.  199. 

"The  first  Dutch  Colonies  settled  on  the  Delaware  in  1630;  the  Swedes  arrived 
in  1631  ;  Friends  were  settled  on  the  Western  side  of  the  river  before  the  City  \v;is 
laid  out,  at  Shackamaxon,  where  they  held  meetings;  the  titles  of  sevr ral  Swedes  in 
that  neighborhood  are  as  early  as  1665-6.  Jurian  Hartzfelder  in  March,  1676,  took, 
up  350  acres  in  Campington,  Northern  Liberties." 


readily  and  certainly,  traceable.  It  was  a  sloping  bank 
extending  down  to  the  sandy  margin  of  the  river.  The 
river  bordering  on  one  side,  and  the  surrounding  forests, 
forming  the  enclosure  of  a  wide  amphitheatre  of  green 
sward,  reaching  up  to,  and  around  the  Elm  ;  the  Tree  was 
one  of  the  largest  of  its  species,  and  even  then  vener-" 
able  in  years1.  The  forest  trees  which  covered  the 
City's  site  when  the  Founder  landed,  and  which  were 
described  at  the  time,  extended  over  this  locality  and  far 
beyond.  They  were  Walnuts,  clumps  of  Chestnuts,  stately 
Oaks,  other  Elms,  Beech  trees,  Cedars,  Cypress  and 
Pines2,  reaching  backward  toward  the  Western  horizon 
— the  forest  walls  of  this  wide  amphitheatre ;  they  have 
long  since  fallen  under  the  axe  and  time ;  the  open  river 
yet  flows,  as  it  flowed  there,  centuries  agone.  The 
season  was  November3 — the  Indian  Summer;  on  the 

1  At  its  fall,  the  circles  of  annual  growth  which  its  bark  exhibited,  then  indicated 
an  age  of  283  years. — M.  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  240.     It  was  twenty-four  feet 
in  circumference. — Ib.,  Vol.  1.,  p.  96. 

At  the  time  of  the  treaty,  the  ever  memorable  Elm  Tree,  was  a  veteran  of  the 
forest,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old. — Samuel  Breck  in  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  VI., 
p.  213. 

2  "  The  trees  of  most  note  are  the  Black  Walnut,  Cypress,  Chestnut,  Cedars — the 
fruit  I  find  in  the  woods  are  white  and  black  mulberries,  plums — grapes  of  various 
sorts — the   woods  are    adorned    with    lovely   flowers." — Penn  to  tke  Soc.  of  Free 
Traders.  William   Penn,  said  they,  when  he  treated  with  them  adopted  this  ancient 
mode  oMheir  ancestors,  convened  them  under  a  grove  of  shady  trees." — Hecke- 
welder,  p.  185. 

3  "  Near  the  close  of  November." — Janney,  p.  203. 


river  near  the  shore  lay  the  Governor's  Barge1,  its 
broad  pennant  lifting  and  dipping,  only  with  the  motion 
of  the  waves.  Near  the  great  Elm  the  Council  fire 
was  blazing ;  its  pillar  of  cloud  rising  through  the  hazy 
slumberous  atmosphere,  a  witness  between  the  heaven 
and  the  earth  of  the  unbroken  faith  pledged  there,  and 
to  endure.  Beneath  the  wide  spreading  shadows  of  the 
Elm  the  leaders  of  the  Tribes  were  gathered  ;  no  war- 
like weapons  were  in  their  hands2.  In  front,  the  old  chiefs 
and  their  Counsellors  ;  behind  them  the  younger  Braves, 
circle  after  circle,  widening  outward  towards  the  West; 
with  them  aged  matrons,  and  children3.  In  the  assem- 
blage, as  was  long  believed,  was  Tamanen4,  Sachem  of 

1  "  His  favorite  mode  of  travelling  was  by  water;  he  kept  a  Barge  furnished  with 
a  sail  and  manned  by  a  cockswain  and  six  oarsmen." — J.  F.  Fisher  in  Mem.  of  H. 
S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  II. 

"  Forthis  barge  he  always  showed  much  solicitude,  he  mentions  it  in  his  letters  to 
James  Logan  frequently,  and  in  one  says,  '  But  above  all  dead  things  my  barge ;  I 
hope  nobody  uses  it  on  any  account,  and  that  she  is  kept  in  a  dry  dock,  or  at  least 
covered  from  the  weather.'  " — Penn  and  Logan  Correspondence. 

"  The  condition  of  the  roads  made  travel  by  boat  necessary." — Ib. 

2 "  Nor  would  they  even  permit  any  war-like  weapons  to  remain  within  the 
limits  of  their  council  fire,  when  assembled  together  about  the  ordinary  business  of 
government." — Heckeivelder. 

3  "  Their  order  is  thus :  The  King  sits  in  the  middle  of  an  half  moon,  and  has 
his  council,  the  old  and  wise  on  each  hand.  Behind  them  or  at  a  little  distance  sit 
the  younger  fry  in  the  same  figure." — Penn  to  the  Soc.  of  the  Free  Traders,  1683. 
Hist.  Soc.  Lib. 

* "  Tamanend  was  an  ancient  Delaware  chief,  he  was  in  the  highest  degree 
endowed  with  wisdom,  virtue,  prudence,  charity,  affability,  meekness,  hospitality,  in 
short  with  every  good  and  noble  qualification  that  a  human  being  may  possess.  He 
was  supposed  to  have  had  an  intercourse  with  the  great  and  good  Spirit ;  for  he  was 
a  stranger  to  everything  that  is  bad." — Heckewelder,  p.  300. 


the  Delaxvares.  The  savages,  dark  to  blackness,  by 
their  ruder  intercourse  with  the  \veather,  gorgeous  with 
various  dyes  upon  their  persons,  feathers  of  the  forest 
birds  upon  their  foreheads,  shimmering  in  the  Autumn 
sun.  The  Dutch  in  the  well-worn  clothes  of  their 
voyage,  or  the  more  homely  leggings  and  shoes  made 
by  the  Indians  themselves,  to  which  the  first  landers 
ultimately  came  ;  the  Swedes  in  their  Frocks  and 
Trousers,  and  moccasins  of  Deer  skins,  contrasting  with 
the  capped  and  heavy  Dutchmen,  with  their  pipes,  and 
imperturbable  repose.  The  immediate  followers  of  the 
Founder  in  the  quaint  costumes  of  their  time — coats 
reaching  to  the  knees,  covered  with  buttons,  most  ample 
vests,  trousers  slashed  at  the  sides,  and  tied  with  strings 
or  ribbons,  perukes  and  low  shoes — the  one,  as  the 
other,  except  in  the  more  or  less  expensive  material, 
befitting  his  circumstances.  In  the  midst  the  Founder, 
his  hair,  parting  in  many  ringlets,  over  his  broad  forehead 
and  shoulders  ;  the  ruffles  of  the  time,  falling  over  his  fair 
hands,  and  breast  as  clear ;  in  his  costume  distinguished 
from  the  others,  by  his  blue  silken  knit  sash,  only1. 
Himself,  the  cause  and  force  of  that  event,  which  should 
survive  by  his  faith  and  confidence  in  humanity,  to  the 
latest  generations.  Near  him  Markham,  his  trusty 

1  "  He  was  distinguished  only  by  wearing  a  sky  blue  sash  made  of  silk  net  work, 
and  which  was  of  no  larger  apparent  dimensions  than  an  officer's  military  sash,  and 
much  like  it  except  in  color." — Clarkson,  Vol.  II..  p.  265. 

The  sash  is  now  (1813)  in  the  possession  of  Thomas  Kelt,  Esq.,  of  Seething 
Hall  near  Norwich. — //>.,  p.  265. 


Secretary,  in  the  rich  costume  of  the  English  Service ; 
Holmes,  his  Surveyor-General;  Symcox,  Haigne,  Taylor, 
and  Pierson '.  So  they  stood  together,  the  passing  and 
the  coming  race  ;  the  race  that  should  perish,  and  the 
race  that  should  survive — upon  this  carpeting  of  the 
fallen  leaves,  whose  crimson  green  and  gold  arabesques 
were  fading  into  the  sombre  dyes  of  these  November 
days — beneath  that  Tree  whose  vast  embrace  and 
century  growing  arms  was  yielding  insensibly  as  them- 
selves, to  inevitable  decay  :  The  waning  year,  the  dying 
leaves,  presaging  the  future  of  all  their  forest  strength, 
and  painted  glories.  Yet  not  here  as  elsewhere  by  the 
deadlier  passions  of  advancing  civilization,  but  for  the 
good  faith  of  the  savages,  and  to  the  eternal  glory  of 
the  Founder  of  Pennsylvania,  by  the  inevitable  law  of 
change  and  dissolution  only.  Of  all  these  Penn  alone 
survives,  in  common  memory.  In  stature,  tall  and 
athletic;  in  manner  courteous;  in  disposition  most 
resolute;  tender  of  every  person  and  thing,  that  had 
simplicity  of  truth  or  honesty  for  a  foundation  2. 

He  advances  toward  the  Council  fire  with  kindly, 
courtly  dignity;  his  attendants  precede  him  bearing 
presents  which  they  lay  upon  the  ground.  That  vener- 
able Sachem,  Taminen,  or  it  may  be  another  as  venerable, 
and  distinguished  for  his  wisdom  and  courage,  rises, 

1  Clarkson,  Vol.  I.,  p.  265.      Janney,  p.  203.     Dixon,  p.  109. 

2  "  Tender  of  every  person  and  thing  that  had  simplicity  of  truth  or  honesty  for  a 
foundation."     The  testimonial  of  the  Philadelphia  Meeting,  16,  1st  Mo.,  1718-19, 
following  his  death. — Friend's  Library,  Vol.  V.,  p.  328. 


advances  a  few  paces,  puts  on  his  head  a  chaplet ',  into 
which  is  twisted  a  small  horn,  the  symbol  of  his 
authority.  By  this  custom  of  the  Delawares  the  spot 
has  become  sacred,  the  person  of  every  one  there, 
inviolable.  He  then  devoutly  turns  his  Calumet2  to  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  seats  himself  on  the  ground  and 
smokes  a  while  in  silence.  The  Interpreter  announces 
that  he  will  hear  the  words  of  the  White  Father3.  Penn 
addresses  them  in  these  sentences,  some  repeated  as 

1  "  One  of  the  Sachems  who  was  the  chief  of  them,  then  put  upon  his  own  head 
a  kind  of  chaplet  in  which  appeared  a  small  horn. — This,  as  among  the  primitive 
Eastern  Nations  and  according  to  the  Scripture  language  was  an  emblem  of  kingly 
power;  and  whenever  the  chief  who  had  a  right  to  wear  it,  put  it  on,  it  was  under- 
stood that  the  place  was  made  sacred  and  the  persons  of  all  present  inviolable." — 
Clarkson,  Vol.  II.,  p.  265. 

2  "  The  meeting  is  opened  by  the  head  Chief  or  President  who  smokes  for  a  short 
lime  out  of  the  pipe  of  Peace  after  it  has  been  devoutly  turned  to  the  Heavens  and 
4he  Earth.     The   ceremony  is  of  such  importance  that   no  European  Governor  or 
Ambassador  can  make  p;ace  with  the   Indians  without  it.     Afterwards  the  pipe  is 
handed  about  among  all  the  Ambassadors  and  Members  of  the  Council,  when  each 
of  them  takes  it   up  very  cautiously  and  smokes  for  a  short  time." — La  Trobis 
Loskiel,  P.  i.,Ch.  X.,  p.  156. 

"The  Pipe  of  Peace  (Calumet,  fr. )  has  a  large  head  of  red  marble  three  inches 
deep  and  six  or  eight  inches  wide,  but  the  red  color  being  the  color  of  war,  it  is 
<laubecl  over  with  white  clay  or  chalk.  The  pipe  is  made  of  hard  black  wood 
wound  with  a  fine  ribbon  neatly  decorated  with  white  corals  by  the  women.  Some- 
times ornaments  are  added  made  of  Porcupine  quills  with  green,  yellow  and  white 
feathers."— La  Trade's  Loskiel,  P.  I.,  Ch.  X.,  p.  156. 

3  Miquon   was  the  name  which  the  Lenni  Lenape  gave  to  William  Penn.     The 
Iroquois  called  him  Onas.     Both  of  these  words  in  their  respective  languages  sig- 
nify  a  quill  or  pen." — Duponcean,  Ann.  of  Penn's  landing,  1824,  note.     F.  Ins. 
Library. 

"The  true  signification  of  William  Penn's  name  belongs  to  the  Welsh  or  Celtic 
language  from  which  it  is  derived.  In  that  tongue  the  word  Penn  means  head,  and 
metaphorically  a  leader  or  chief." — Hug/is  Penn,  p.  90. 


his  language  long  after  by  the  savages  themselves, 
some  as  they  appear  in  the  stories  of  his  life,  as  his 
words  on  the  occasion. 

"The  Great  Spirit  rules  in  the  Heavens,  and  the 
Earth.  He  knows  the  innermost  thoughts  of  men.  He 
knows  that  we  have  come  here  with  a  hearty  desire  to  live 
with  you  in  peace.  We  use  no  hostile  weapons  against 
our  enemies — good  faith  and  good  will  towards  men  are 
our  defences.  We  believe  you  will  deal  kindly  and 
justly  by  us,  as  we  will  deal  kindly  and  justly  by  you." 
He  then  read  them  the  conditions  of  the  league,  which 
were  preserved  by  his  successors,  and  forty  years  after 
read  to  the  successors  of  these  representatives  of  their 
tribes  and  nations,  article  by  article. 

He  then  continued:  "We  will  not  be  to  you  as 
brothers — brothers  sometimes  contend  with  brothers. 
We  will  not  be  to  you  as  fathers  with  children — fathers 
sometimes  punish  their  children.  Nor  shall  our  friend- 
ship be  as  the  chain  that  rust  may  weaken,  that  the  tree 
may  fall  upon  and  sunder.  We  will  be  as  one  heart, 
one  head,  one  body  ;  that  if  one  suffers,  the  other  suf- 
fers; that  if  anything  changes  the  one,  it  changes  the 
other '. 

"  We  will  go  along  the  broad  pathway  of  good  will  to 
each  other  together." 

They  listen  to  the  words  in  silence  as  was  their  cus- 
tom, they  consult  among  themselves,  they  deliberate. 

1  Clarksan,  Vol.  I.,  p.  266,  followed  by  the  other  biographers. 


10 

Taminen  orders  one  of  his  chiefs  to  answer ;  this  one 
rises  and  advances  toward  the  Founder  and  salutes  him 
in  the  King's  name.  He  takes  him  by  the  hand '  and 
pledges  him  kindness  and  good  will,  that  it  was  the 
King's  mind  that  these  pledges  should  be  accepted  and 
kept  by  them  forever;  that  the  Indians  and  the 
Christians  shall  live  in  love  together  as  long  as  the  sun 
gave  light  in  the  heavens.  He  delivers  into  the 
Founder's  hands  that  Wampum  belt2  which  was  there- 
after transmitted  as  an  heirloom  to  his  family,  and  which 
was  given  by  the  last  survivor  of  that  family  into  the 
keeping  of  our  State  Society.  One  of  these  belts  when 
given,  sealed  a  single  sentence,  or  the  silence  of  a 
pledge  which  should  remain  sacred  forever.  This 

1 "  Having  consulted  and  resolved  their  business  the  King  ordered  one  of  them  to 
speak  to  me.  He  stood  up,  came  to  me  and  in  the  name  of  his  King  saluted  me,  then 
took  me  by  the  hand  and  told  me  he  was  ordered  by  his  King  to  speak  to  me,  and 
that  now  it  was  not  he,  but  the  King  who  spoke,  because  what  he  should  say  was 
the  King's  mind." — Penn  to  the  Soc.  of  Free  Traders,  1683.  H.  S.  of  Pa.  Library. 

J"  It  is  a  belt  of  the  largest  size,  and  made  with  the  neatest  workmanship,  which  i< 
generally  found  in  such  as  are  known  to  have  been  used  in  Councils,  or  in  making 
treaties  with  the  Indians.  Its  length  is  twenty-six  inches,  its  breadth  is  nine  inches, 
and  it  consists  of  eighteen  strings  woven  together ;  it  is  formed  entirely  of  small 
beads  strung  in  rows,  and  made  from  pieces  of  clam  or  muscle  shells.  These  form 
an  entirely  white  ground  :  in  the  centre  there  is  a  rude  but  striking  representation, 
worked  in  dark  violet  beads,  of  two  men — the  one,  somewhat  the  stouter,  wearing 
a  hat;  the  other,  rather  thinner,  having  an  uncovered  head;  they  stand  erect,  with 
their  hands  clasped  together;  there  are  three  bands,  also  worked  in  dark  violet 
beads,  one  at  either  end,  the  other  about  one-third  the  distance  from  one  end,  which 
may  have  reference  to  the  parties  to  the  treaty,  or  to  the  rivers  Delaware,  Schuylkiil, 
and  Susquehanna. 

"  It  was  presented  to  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  25th  day 
of  May,  1857,  by  Granville  John  Penn,  a  descendant  of  the  Founder.  It  is  framed 


II 

•done,  another  speaks  to  the  tribes  in  the  name  of  all 
the  Sachamakers  and  Kings  repeating  to  them,  this  that 
\\  as  done  ;  then  commanding  them  by  the  words  of 
these  Kings  that  they  should  live  with  the  Founder  and 
his  people  in  peace  forever — the  great  Assemblage  I  of 
these  Kings  and  braves  standing  among  their  women 
and  children,  at  each  sentence  of  these  pledges,  re- 
peated in  their  language,  shouted,  and  in  their  way  said 
Amen  2. 

The  conditions  of  the  league — the  pledges  of  that 
memorable  treaty — the  links  of  the  enduring  chain,  that 
the  falling  tree  broke  not,  nor  time  nor  change  weakened, 
as  they  were  preserved  in  the  archives  of  our  State,  and 
as  they  were  read  forty  years  after  for  the  last  time  to 

between  glass  plates  and  hangs  from  the  ceiling  of  a  fire-proof  room  built  within  the 
Hall  of  the  Society.     The  copy  was  made  in  exact  fac-simile  of  the  original  bell. 

1  "  They  were  seen  in  the  woods  as  far  as  the  eye  could  carry,  so  that  dismay  and 
terror  had  come  upon  them,  had  they  not  confided  in  the  righteousness  of  their 
cause.'' — Clarkson,  Vol.  I.,  p.  264. 

"  Nineteen  Indian  Nations  (tribes)." — Oldmixon,  London,  1708,  p.  171.  First 
edition  Hist.  Soc.  Library. 

'2  "  Which  done  another  made  a  speech  to  the  Indians  in  the  name  of  all  the  Sacha- 
inachers  or  Kings ;  first  to  tell  what  was  done :  next  to  charge  and  command  them 
to  love  the  Christians  and  particularly  to  live  in  peace  with  me  and  the  people  un- 
der my  government ;  that  they  should  never  do  mine  or  me  any  wrong.  At  every 
sentence  of  which  they  shouted,  and  in  their  way  said,  Amen." — Penn  to  the  So- 
ciety of  Free-Traders.  "These  ceremonies  are  always  attended  with  dancing."- 
La  Trobe's  Loskiel,  P.  I.,  p.  155. 

"  It  is  said  that  the  Founder,  who  inherited  some  portion  of  his  wholesome  Dutch 
mother's  exuberance  of  spirits,  as  well  as  the  more  stable  qualities  of  her  blood, 
took  part  in  the  dancing  on  his  first  reception  by  the  Indians  '  and  excelled  them 
all'  but  unless,  as  one  of  the  necessities  of  the  assemblage,  it  would  here  seem  be- 
.neath  the  gravity  of  the  occasion." — See  Watson,  p.  131. 


12 

the  representatives  of  these  tribes — the  Ganawese,  the 
Conestogas,  and  the  nations,  of  the  Delawares  and  of 
the  Shawanese,  were  these  : 

"  We  will  be  brethren,  my  people  and  your  people,  as 
the  children  of  one  father. 

"All  the  paths  shall  be  open  to  the  Christian  and  the 
Indian.  The  doors  of  the  Christian  shall  be  open  to  the 
Indian,  and  the  wigwam  of  the  Indian,  shall  be  open  to 
the  Christian. 

"The  Christian  shall  believe  no  false  stories,  the 
Indian  shall  believe  no  false  stories,  they  shall  first  come 
together  as  brethren  and  inquire  of  each  other  ;  when 
they  hear  such  false  stories  they  shall  bury  them  in  the 
bottomless  pit. 

"The  Christian  hearing  news  that  may  hurt  the 
Indian,  or  the  Indian  hearing  news  that  may  hurt  the 
Christian,  shall  make  it  known  the  one  to  the  other,  as 
speedily  as  possible,  as  true  friends  and  brethren. 

"The  Indian  shall  not  harm  the  Christian,  nor  his 
friend;  the  Christian  shall  not  harm  the  Indian,  nor  his 
friend;  but  they  shall  live  together  as  brethren.  As 
there  are  wicked  people  in  all  Nations;  if  the  Indian  or 
the  Christian  shall  harm  the  one  or  the  other,  complaint 
shall  be  made  by  the  sufferer,  that  right  may  be  done; 
and  when  right  is  done,  the  wrong  shall  be  forgotten, 
and  buried  in  the  bottomless  pit. 

"  The  Indian  shall  help  the  Christian,  and  the  Chris- 


tian  shall  help  the  Indian,  against  all  evil  men,  who 
would  molest  them1." 

The  words  in  which  the  final  pledge  was  given  follow- 
ing their  custom  and  in  its  language  were: 

"We  will  transmit  this  League  between  us  to  our 
children.  It  shall  be  made  stronger  and  stronger,  and 
be  kept  bright  and  clean  without  rust  or  spot,  between 
our  children  and  our  children's  children,  while  the 
creeks  and  rivers  run,  and  while  the  sun,  moon,  and 
stars  endure2." 

And  so  this  Treaty  was  made,  and  has  become  a  part 
of  our  first  inheritance  of  freedom;  a  part  of  the  Chris- 
tianity of  the  world.  And  very  truly  to  the  faith 
pledged  there,  as  no  other  people;  have  the  Founder's 
followers  proved  during  the  last  two  centuries  since 
that  Treaty's  Pledge,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  stead- 
fast; wherever  the  Indian  has  called  out  from  the  suf- 
fering of  his  endless  march,  the  Quakers  of  the  Found- 
er's City  have  answered  the  enduring  "Yea." 

Yet  there  have  not  been  wanting  men  even  here, 
where  he  walked,  when  on  earth,  and  where  the  river 

1  Cited  by  Governor  Gordon  at  the  Council  at  Conestoga,  May  26,  1728,  H.  S.  of 
Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  2,  page  202. 

2 "  Great  promises  passed  between  us  of  kindness  and  good  neighborhood,  and 
that  the  English  and  Indians  must  live  in  love  as  long  as  the  sun  gave  light." — 
Penn  to  the  Society  of  Free- Traders,  1683,  Aug.  1 6. 

"  At  the  concluding  speech,  the  Indians  generally  make  use  of  this  expression, 
that  their  friendship  shall  last  as  long  as  the  sun  and  moon  give  light,  rise  and  set; 
as  long  as  the  stars  shine  in  the  firmament,  and  the  rivers  flow  with  water." — La 
Trobe's  Loskiel,  P.  I.,  p.  159. 


H 

flows,  and  the  faith  endured  unbroken  to  the  end,  who 
have  questioned  the  precious  story.  They  have  said  as 
was  said  before,  even  of  the  Divine  Master,  that  hu- 
manity in  its  credulity  and  dependence  upon  such  noble 
examples,  had  created  out  of  its  own  imagination  this 
story  of  "The  Man  and  the  Sorrowless  Tree" — the  sal- 
vation of  our  Commonwealth  from  the  universal  wrong 
to  that  unfortunate  race ;  more  incredulous  than  the 
unbelievers  themselves,  they  have  sought  to  set  aside 
the  simple  truth  of  the  tradition,  and  its  lesson  most 
valuable  for  our  example  and  instruction,  was  lost  to 
their  narrower  scrutinies;  but  none  the  less  therefore, 
has  the  story  been  repeated  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion and  preserved  in  that  secure  treasure-house  of 
Earth's  most  valuable  possession  — "the  credence  of  our 
common  Humanity." 


THE   LINKS    IN   THE   CHAIN   OF   THE   TESTIMONY. 

The  treaty  at  Shackamaxon,  the  beacon  spot  in  the  History  of  Pennsylvania,  still 
jests  after  more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy  years,  on  an  unbroken  and  unvarying 
tradition ;  the  incidents  in  relation  to  it  from  time  to  time,  successively  developed, 
verify  and  never  contradict  it. — Memoirs  Hist.  Soc.  of  Pa. 

V(yo'HEN  WILLIAM  PENN  came  here,  he  had  six 
objects   principally  in    view,  and   to   which   his 
first  attention  was  to  be  directed. 

They  were :  To  organize  his  government.  To  visit 
his  co-religionists  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware  in 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  To  conciliate  the  Indians. 
To  pay  his  respects  to  the  Governors  of  New  York, 
who  had  had  the  command  over  Pennsylvania.  To  fix 
upon  a  proper  spot  to  build  his  capital  city.  To  visit 
Lord  Baltimore,  with  whom  he  had  differences  respect- 
ing the  limits  of  his  province.1 

The  conciliation  of  the  Indians  was  a  leading  object. — . 
The  evidence  of  this  is  found  first  in  THE  CONDITIONS  or— 
concessions,  as  they  were  called,  to  the  purchasers  and~~ 
settlers  of  his  lands  in  Pennsylvania;  they  bear  date  the 
1 1  th  of  July,  1 68 1 .     To  these  he  not  only  bound  himself, 

1  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  193-4 . 
05) 


HE  PUT   ASIDE   FOR   THE   AKMOR    OF    RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

(16) 


I? 

but  all  who  chose  to  follow  him,  who  were  not  permitted 
to  come  as  settlers  to  Pennsylvania,  unless  they  sub-  " 
scribed  to  those  conditions.     The  Sections  relating  to  ^ 
the  Indians  are : 

XI.  There  shall  be  no  buying  and  selling,  be  it  with  > 
Indian,  or  one  among  another,  of  any  goods  to  be  ex^~ 
ported,  but  what  shall  be  performed  in  public  market,— 
when  such  places  shall  be  set  apart,  or  erected,  where^ 
they  shall  pass  the  public  stamp  or  mark;  if  bad  ware, 
and  prized  as  good,  or  deceitful  in  proportion  or  weighty 
to  forfeit  the  value,  as  if  good  and  full  weight  and  pro=-~ 
portion,  to  the  Public  Treasury  of  this  Province,  whether- 
it   be  the    merchandise  of  the  Indian,  or  that  of  the 
Planters. 

XII.  And  forasmuch,  as  it  is  usual  with  the  planters 
to  overreach  the  poor  natives  of  the  country,  in  trade, 
by  goods  not  being  good  of  the  kind,  or  debased  with" 
mixtures,  with  which  they  are  sensibly  aggrieved,  it  is~ 
agreed  whatever  is  sold  to  the  Indians,  in  consideration 
of  their  furs,  shall  be  sold  in  the  market  place,  and  there 
suffer  the  test,  whether  good  or  bad ;  if  good,  to  pass  ; 
if  not  good,  not  to  be  sold  for  good,  that  the  natives^ 
may  not  be  abused  nor  provoked. 

XIII.  That  no  man   shall  by  any  ways  or  means,  in-- 
word  or  deed,  affront  or  wrong  any  Indian,  but  shall  in- 
cur the  same  penalty  of  the  law  as  if  he  had  committed 
it  against  his  fellow  planter;    and  if  any  Indian  shaft 
abuse,  in  word  or  deed,  any  planter  of  his  province,  that 


i8 

he  shall  not  be  his  own  judge  upon  the  Indians,  but  he 
shall  make  his  complaint  to  the  governor  of  the  province, 
or  his  lieutenant,  or  deputy,  or  some  inferior  magistrate 
near  him,  who  shall,  at  the  utmost  of  his  power,  take 
care  with  the  king  of  the  said  Indians  that  all  reasonable 
satisfaction  be  made  to  the  said  injured  planter. 

XIV.  That  all  differences,  between  the  planter  and 

the  natives  shall  also  be  ended  by  twelve  men,  that  is,  by 

_  six  planters  and  six  natives,  that  so  we  may  live  friendly 

together  as  much  as  in  us  lieth,  preventing  all  occasions 

of  heart-burning  and  mischief. 

-  XV.  That  the  Indians  shall  have  liberty  to  do  all 
things  relating  to  improvement  of  their  ground,  and 
providing  sustenance  for  their  families,  that  any  of  the 
planters  shall  enjoy.1 

Two  months  after  the  date  of  these  concessions,  he 
sent  three  commissioners  to  manage  his  affairs  in  his 
Colony,  namely:  William  Crispin,  John  Bezar,  and  Na- 
thaniel Allen,  and  requested  them  to  make  a  league  of 
peace  with  the  Indians  in  conformity  with  the  conces- 
sions. 

His  INSTRUCTIONS  to  them  were  dated  3oth  of  Sep- 
tember, 1 68 1,  and  are  in  these  words:  "Be  tender  of 
offending  the  Indians,  let  them  know  that  you  are  come 
to  sit  down  lovingly  among  them.  Let  my  letter  and 
conditions  with  my  purchasers  about  just  dealing  with 

1  M.  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  P.  ii.,  p.  153. 


'9 

them,  be  read  in  their  tongue,  that  they  may  see  we  have 
their  good  in  our  eye,  equal  with  our  interest;  and  after 
reading  my  letter  and  the  said  conditions,  then  present 
their  kings  with  what  I  send  them,  and  make  a  FRIEND- 
SHIP AND  LEAGUE  with  them  according  to  these  condi- 
tions, which  carefully  observe." ' 

Following  these  instructions  he  wrote  personally  to 
the  Indians,  informing  them  of  his  intentions,  and  his 
direction  to  his  commissioners  to  treat  with  them  about 
their  lands,  and  the  league  of  peace.  He  wrote  first, 
October  i8th,  1681,  as  follows: 

"Mv  FRIENDS:  There  is  one  great  God  and  power 
that  hath  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein,  to  whom 

o 

you  and  I,  and  all  people  owe  their  being,  and  well- 
being,  and  to  whom  you  and  I  must  one  day  give  an  ac- 
count for  all  that  we  do  in  the  world.  Now  this  great 
God  hath  been  pleased  to  make  me  concerned  in  your 
parts  of  the  world,  and  the  king  of  the  country  where  I 
live  hath  given  unto  me  a  great  province;  but  I  desire  to 
enjoy  it  with  your  love  and  consent,  that  we  may  always 
live  together  as  neighbors  and  friends :  else  what  would 
the  great  God  say  to  us,  who  hath  made  us  not  to  de- 
vour and  destroy  one  another,  but  to  live  soberly  and 
kindly  together  in  the  world.  Now  I  would  have  you 
well  observe  that  I  am  very  sensible  of  the  unkindness 
and  unjustice  that  hath  b-en  too  much  exercised  to- 

1  M.  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  P.  II.,  p.  155. 


20 

wards  you,  by  the  people  of  these  parts  of  the  world, 
who  sought  themselves  and  to  make  great  advantages 
by  you,  rather  than  be  examples  of  justice  and  goodness 
unto  you,  which  I  hear  hath  been  matter  of  trouble  to 
you,  and  caused  great  grudgings  and  animosities,  some- 
times to  the  shedding:  of  blood,  which  hath  made  the 

o 

great  God  angry.  But  I  am  not  such  a  man,  as  is  well 
known  in  my  own  country.  I  shall  shortly  come  to  see 
you  myself,  at  which  time  we  may  more  largely  and 
freely  confer  and  discourse  of  these  matters.  In  the 
meantime  I  have  sent  my  commissioners  to  treat  with 
you  about  land  and  a  firm  league  of  peace." 

He  wrote  to  them  again,  2ist  April,  1682,  to  assure 
them  of  his  love  toward  them  : 

"  The  great  God  who  is  the  power  and  wisdom  that 
made  you  and  me,  incline  your  hearts  to  righteousness, 
love  and  peace.  This  I  send  to  assure  you  of  my  love, 
and  to  desire  your  love  of  my  friends,  and  when  the 
great  God  brings  me  among  you,  I  intend  to  order  all 
things  in  such  manner  that  we  may  all  live  in  love  and 
peace  with  one  another,  which  I  hope  the  great  God  will 
incline  both  me  and  you  to  do.  I  seek  nothing  but  the 
honors  of  his  name,  and  that  we  who  are  his  workman- 
ship may  do  that  which  is  well  pleasing  to  him." 

He  wrote  again,  2ist  June,  1682,  that  he  would  only 
enjoy  his  land  upon  friendly  terms  with  them,  notwith- 
standing his  grant  of  their  country: 

"The  great  God  that  made  thee  and  me,  and  all  the 


21 

world,  incline  our  hearts  to  love  peace  and  justice,  that 
we  may  live  friendly  together,  as  becomes  the  workman- 
ship of  the  great  God.  The  King  of  England,  who  is  a 
great  prince,  hath,  for  divers  reasons,  granted  to  me  a 
large  country  in  America,  which,  however,  I  am  willing 
to  enjoy  upon  friendly  terms  with  thee;  and  this  I  will 
say,  that  the  people  who  come  with  me  are  a  just,  plain, 
and  honest  people,  that  neither  make  war  upon  others, 
nor  fear  war  from  others,  because  they  will  be  just." 

His  object,  therefore,  was  to  purchase  their  lands,  andv. 
make  with  them  a  firm  league  of  peace;  that  he  fulfilled— 
both  of  these  intentions  the  evidence  remains. 


Tamanen,  June  23.  1783. 


THE  LAND  TITLES. 

tHE  land  titles  which  were  found  recorded  and  un- 
recorded in  the  State  Archives  some  years  ago 
and  collated  are  as  follows  : 

Idquahon,  Merkekowon  arfd  others,  Indyan  Sacha- 
makers,  1 5th  July,  1 682,  to  William  Penn,  Esq.,  Chief  Pro- 
prietor of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania  for  lands  at  the 
Falls  of  the  Delaware  along  the  Neshammony,  and  the 
Islands  in  the  River  Delaware. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p. 

47- 

Tamanen,  23d  4th  month,  1683,  all  his  Lands  Lying 

betwixt  Pemmapecka  and  Nessaminehs  Creeks,  to  Wil- 
liam Penn  Proprietr  and  Governr  of  Pennsylvania. — Pa. 
Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  62. 

Essepenaike,  Swanpees,  Okettarickon  and  Wessapoat, 
2 3d  4th  month,  1683,  their  Lands  "lying  betwixt  Pem- 
mapecka and  Nesheminck  Creeks,  all  along  upon 
Nesheminck  Creek  and  backward  of  same,  and  to  Run 
Two  days  Journey  with  an  Horse  up  into  ye  Country  as 
ye  sd  River  doeth  goe,"  To  William  Penn,  Proprietr  and 

(22) 


23 

Governr  of  ye  Province  of  Pensilvania. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol. 
I,  p.  63. 

Wingebone,  25th  4th  month,  1683,  all  his  Lands  Ly- 
ing on  ye  west  side  of  ye  Skolkill  River  begining  from 
ye  Falls  of  ye  same  all  along  upon  ye  sd  River  and 
Backward  of  ye  same,  so  farr  as  my  right  goeth,  to  Wil- 
liam Penn,  Proprietr  and  Governr  of  Pennsilvania. — Pa. 
Arck.,Vo\.  I.,  p.  65. 

Secane  &  Icquoquehan,  i4th  5th  mo.,  1683,  Lands 
Lying  between  Manaiunk  als  Schulkill  and  Macopanack- 
han,  als  Chester  Rivers,  begining  on  ye  West  side  of 
Manaiunk,  thence  to  ye  sd  River  Macopanackhan,  unto 
William  Penn,  Proprietr  &  Govern1"  of  ye  Province  of 
Pennsilvania. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  65. 

Neneshickan,  Malebore,  I4th  5th  mo.,  1683,  Lands 
betwixt  Manaiunk  and  Pemmapecka,  So  farr  as  ye  hill 
called  Consohockin,  on  ye  sayd  River  Manaiunk,  from 
thence  by  a  Northwest  Line  to  ye  River  of  Pemma- 
pecka unto  William  Penn,  Proprietr  and  Govern1"  of  ye 
Province  of  Pennsilvania. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  66. 

Kekelappan,  of  Opasiskunk,  loth  yth  mo.,  1683,  unto 
William  Penn,  Proprietary  &  Govern1"  of  ye  Province  of 
Pennsilvania,  £c.,  that  half  of  all  my  Lands  betwixt  Sus- 
quahanna  &  Delaware,  which  lyeth  on  ye  Susquehanna 
side. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  67. 

Machaloha,  i8th  Oct.,  1683,  Lands  on  Delaware  River, 
Chesapeek  Bay,  and  up  to  ye  Falls  of  Sussquahana 
River  unto  William  Penn  Proprietary  &  Governr  of  ye 
[Province]  of  Pennsilvania. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  67. 


24 

Deed  from  Manghongsin,  June  3d,  1684,  for  all  his 
land  upon  Pahkehoma,  (Perkeomink,  now  Perkioming. 
This  deed  is  not  recorded.) — Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  1 1 1. 

June  yth,  1684.  Richard  Mettamicont,  calling  him- 
self owner  of  the  land  on  both  sides  of  Pemmapecka 
creek,  on  the  river  Delaware,  releases  to  William  Penn. 
Not  recorded. — Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  1 1 1. 

Shakhoppoh,  Secane,  Malibor,  Tangoras,  3Oth  5th 
mo.,  1685,  Lands  lying  between  Macopanackan,  als  Up- 
land, now  called  Chester  River  or  Creek,  and  the  River 
or  Creek  of  Pemapecka,  North -Westerly  back  into  ye 
Woods,  to  make  up  Two  full  Daies  Journey,  as  far  as  a 
man  can  go  in  Two  Dayes,  from  the  said  Station. — Pa. 
Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  92-3. 

Lare,  Packenah,  Tareekham,  2nd  8th  mo.,  1685,  Lands 
from  Quing  Quingus  Called  Duck  Creek  unto  Upland 
Called  Chester  Creek  all  along  by  the  West  Side  of 
Delaware  River  and  So  betweene  the  Said  Creeks  Back- 
wards as  far  as  a  man  can  Ride  in  two  days  with  a 
horse,  unto  Cap1  Thomas  Holme  ye  use  of  William 
Penn  Esqr  Proprietary  &  Governr  of  ye  aforesd  Province 
&  Territories. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  95. 

In  this  place  should  follow  a  deed  alleged  to  have 
existed,  dated  August  2Oth,  1686,  for  the  walking  pur- 
chase, and  which  occasioned  much  controversy,  and  dis- 
satisfaction among  the  Indians;  it  is,  however,  referred 
to,  included  in,  and  confirmed  by  the  deed  of  August, 
1737.  It  is  certain  no  such  original  deed  was  in  exist- 


25 

ence  at  the  treaty  of  Easton,  in  1757. — Laws  of  Pa.,  VOL. 
II.,  p.  in. 

The  1 5th  day  of  June  1692.  King  Taminent,  Tan- 
gorus,  Swampes,  Hickoqueon.  Tract  lying  between 
Neshaminah  &  Poquessing  upon  the  River  Delaware, 
backwards  to  the  utmost  bounds  of  the  said  province. — 
Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  116-17. 

Thos.  Dongan  to  William  Penn,  I2th  January,  1696, 
consideration,  of  one  hundred  Pounds.  Tract  Lyeing,  on 
both  sides  the  Susquehanah  River  and  the  Lakes  adja- 
cent, which  the  said  Thomas  Dongan,  purchased  of  or 
had  given  by  the  Sinneca  Susquehanah  Indians,  for  the 
end  and  term  of  One  Thousand  years,  paying  unto  the 
said  Thomas  Dongan,  every  year  on  the  Feast  day  of 
St.  Michaell,  the  Arch  Angell,  the  rent  of  a  pepper 
Corn. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  121-2. 

Thos.  Dongan  to  Wm.  Penn,  I3th  January,  1696,  for 
One  Hundred  Pounds,  tract  on  both  sides  of  the  Sus- 
quehanah river,  beginning  at  the  head  of  the  said  River, 
and  running  as  farr,  into  the  Bay  of  Chesapeake,  pur- 
chased of,  or  had  given  him  by  the  Sinnica  Susquehanah 
Indians. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  122-3. 

Taminy,  Sachimack,  Weheeland,  and  Weheequeckhon,, 
who  is  to  be  king  after  my  death,  Yaqueekhon,  and 
Quenameckquid,  my  Sonns,  5th  July,  1697,  unto  William 
Penn,  Lands,  Between  the  Creek  called  Pemopeck,  and 
the  Creek  called  Neshaminy,  in  the  said  Province  from 
the  River  Delaware,  so  farr  as  a  horse  can  Travel  in 
Two  Summer  dayes. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  124-5. 


26 

Widaagh,  Andaggy-junkquagh,  Kings,  of  the  Susque- 
hannagh  Indians,  i3th  Sep.,  1700,  unto  William  Penn, 
the  River  Susquehannagh,  and  all  the  Islands  therein, 
and  all  the  Lands  lying  upon  both  sides  of  the  River, 
next  adjoyning  to  ye  same,  extending  t-  the  utmost  con- 
fines of  the  Lands. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  133. 

Articles  of  agreement  between  William  Penn,  and  the 
Susquehanna,  Shawona,  Potowmack,  and  Conestogoe 
Indians,  dated  April  23d,  1701.  (Recorded  in  Book  F, 
Vol.  III.,  page  43.)  Among  other  things  they  ratify  and 
confirm  Governor  Dongan's  deed  of  January,  1696,  and 
the  above  deed  of  the  Susquehanna  Indians,  of  Sep- 
tember, 1700. 

A  deed  of  release,  i7th  of  September,  1718,  from 
sundry  Delaware  Indian  Chiefs,  viz.:  Sassoonah,  Meet- 
ashechay,  Ghettypeneeman,  Pokehais,  Ayamackan,  Ope- 
kasset,  and  Pepawmamam,  for  all  the  lands  situate  be- 
tween the  two  rivers,  Delaware  and  Susquehanna,  from 
Duck  creek  to  the  mountains  on  this  side  Lechay.  This 
deed  is  recorded,  May  i3th,  1728,  in  Book  A,  Vol.  VI., 
page  59. 

Sasooaam,  Sachem  of  the  Schuylkill  Indians,  in  Pensil- 
vania ;  Elalapis,  Ohopamen,  Pesqueetomen,  Mayeenrol, 
Partridge,  Tepakoaset  alias  Joe,  on  behalf  of  our  Selves 
and  all  the  other  Indians  of  the  said  Nation,  7th  Sep., 
1 732,  unto  John  Penn,  Thomas  Penn  &  Richard  Penn,  land 
lying  on  the  River  Schuylkill,  between  the  Lechaig  Hills 
and  Keekachtanemin  Hills,  which  cross  the  R'ver  Thirty 


27 

Miles  above  the  Lechaig  Hills,  all  Land  whatsoever 
lying  within  the  said  bounds  and  between  the  bran  hes 
of  Delaware  River  on  the  Eastern  side  of  said  Land, 
and  the  streams  running  into  the  Susquehannah  on  the 
Western  side  of  the  said  Land. — Pa.  Arch,,  Vol.  I.,  p. 

347- 

Previous,  however,  to  this  treaty,  there  appears  to 
have  been  a  release,  but  not  recorded,  from  sundry  In- 
dians, for  all  the  land  on  both  sides  of  the  Brandywine 
creek.  This  release  is  dated  May  3ist,  1726.  Ratified 
by.  Lingahonoa,  a  Schuylkill  Indian,  who  was  not  present 
at  signing  the  foregoing  deed,  i2th  July,  1742.  Con- 
firmed by  deed  of  release,  2Oth  of  August,  1733,  for  the 
consideration  of  said  lands  received  by  them.  This  re- 
lease is  also  confirmed  by  Lingahonoa,  I2th  July,  1742, 
acknowledging  that  he  had  received  his  portion  of  the 
consideration.  These  deeds  and  releases  have  never 
been  recorded. — Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  114. 

Chiefs  of  the  Nations  of  ye  Onondagoes  ;  Senekaes  ; 
Cayoogoes;  and  Tuskaroras ;  nth  Oct.,  1736,  release 
to  John  Penn,  Thomas  Penn  and  Richard  Penn,  all  the 
River  Susquehannah,  with  the  Lands  lying  on  both  sides 
thereof,  to  Extend  Eastward  as  far  as  the  heads  of  the 
Branches  or  Springs,  which  run  into  the  said  Susque- 
hannah, And  on  the  west  side  of  the  River,  to  the  set- 
ting of  the  Sun,  to  extend  from  the  mouth  of  the  said 
River  Northward,  the  same  to  the  hills  or  mountains 
called  the  Tyanuntasacta,  or  Endless  hills. — Pa.  Arch., 
Vol.  I.,  p.  494-5- 


28 

The  Indian  chiefs  on  their  return,  staid  several  days 
with  Conrad  Weiser,  at  Tulpehocken,  and  there  exe- 
cuted the  following  deed,  dated  October  25th,  1736^ 
which  is  proved  and  recorded  in  Book  C.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  350, 
May  22d,  1741. — Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  115. 

The  Chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations,  the  Onandagoes, 
Isanundowans  or  Sinnekas,  Cayoogoes,  Oneydas,  Tusca- 
roras,  (in  behalf  also  of  ye  Canyingoes  or  Mohacks,) 
nth  Oct.,  1736,  release  to  John  Penn,  Thomas  Penn, 
and  Richard  Penn,  Propriettors  of  Pennsylvania,  and  to 
their  Heirs  and  successors,  All  their  Right,  to  the  Lands 
on  both  sides  of  the  River  Sasquehannah. — Pa.  Arch., 
Vol.  I.,  p.  498. 

There  is  an  indorsement  of  ratification  on  this  deed, 
dated  gth  of  July,  1754,  signed  by  nine  Indians. 

August  25th,  1737.  Teshakomen,  alias  Tishekunk,. 
and  Nootamis  alias  Nutimus,  two  of  the  sachemas,  or 
chiefs  of  the  Delaware  Indians,  several  tracts  of  land, 
which  their  forefathers  had  more  than  fifty  years  ago, 
bargained  and  sold  unto  their  good  friend  and  brother 
William  Penn,  the  father  of  the  said  John  and  Thomas 
Penn,  and  in  particular  one  deed  from  the  chiefs  or  kings 
of  the  northern  Indians  on  Delaware,  release  to  the  pro- 
prietors and  desire  it  may  be  walked,  travelled,  or  gone 
over  by  persons  appointed  for  that  purpose.  Recorded 
May  8th,  1741,  in  book  G.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  282. 

The  sachems  of  the  Indian  nation  called  Onontagers, 
Sinickers,  Mohocks;  or  Oneyders,  Cayiukers,  Tuscor- 


29 

rorow,  Shomoken,  the  Delawares,  Shawanes;  the  22d 
day  of  August,  1 749,  consideration  of  ^500,  that  tract 
or  parcel  of  land,  called  in  the  language  of  the  Five 
Nation  Indians  Tyanuntasachta,  or  endless  hills,  and  by 
the  Delaware  Indians  Kekactany  hills,  east  side  of  the 
river  Susquenna,  and  from  thence  running  up  the  said 
river  to  the  nearest  mountain,  to  the  north  side  of  the 
creek  called  Cantaguy,  and  from  thence  to  the  main 
branch  of  Delaware  river,  at  the  creek  Lechawachsein, 
and  from  thence  down  the  river  Delaware  to  the  Ke- 
kachtany  hills  aforesaid,  and  from  thence  to  the  place 
of  beginning.  Recorded  May  6th,  1752,  in  book  H, 
Vol.  II.,  p.  204. — Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  119. 

Deed  dated  July  6th,  1754,  from  the  sachems,  of  the 
Mohock  nation,  the  Oneydo,  Onondago,  Cayuga,  Seneca 
and  Tuscarora  Indians,  in  consideration  of  ^400  to 
Thomas  and  Richard  Penn,  the  lands  beginning  at  the 
Kittochtinny  or  Blue  hills,  on  the  west  branch  of  Sus- 
quehanna  river,  and  thence  by  the  said,  a  mile  above  the 
mouth  of  a  certain  creek,  called  Kayarondinhagh;  thence 
far  as  the  province  of  Pennsylvania  extends  its  western 
lines  or  boundaries;  thence  along  said  western  line  to 
the  south  line  of  said  province;  thence  to  the  south  side 
of  the  said  Kittochtinny  hills;  thence  to  the  place  of 
beginning. — Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  120. 

Deed  of  October  23d,  1758,  from  the  chiefs  of  the 
Mohock  nation,  Onondago  nation,  Seneca  nation,  the 
Oneyda  nation,  Cayuga  nation,  &  Tuscarora  nation,  re- 


30 

citing  a  deed  poll,  bearing  date,  the  6th  day  of  July, 
1754;  a  treaty  held  at  Easton,  on  the  23d  October,  & 
the  amicable  settlement  of  boundaries  between  the  afore- 
said sachems  and  chiefs  and  Richard  Peters  and  Conrad 
Weiser,  esqs.,  &c.,  for  the  Proprietors.  Recorded  in 
book  I,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  488,  September  5th,  1768. — Laws 
of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  121. 

The  last  purchase  of  the  proprietaries  from  the  Indians, 
was  made  at  Fort  Stanwix,  November  5th,  1 768,  Re- 
corded at  Philadelphia,  in  the  Roll's  Office  in  book  of 
deeds,  No.  3,  p.  23,  July  i2th,  1781. — Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol. 
II.,  p.  122. 

(  rAfyhe  treatyat  Fort  Stanwix  on  October  23, 1 784,3  pur- 
chase was  made  of  the  residue  of  the  Indian  land  within 
the  limits  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  deed  signed  by  the 
chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations. 

At  a  treaty  held  at  Fort  M'Intosh,  with  the  Wyandott 
and  Delaware  Indians,  by  the  same  commissioners,  Jan- 
uary, 1785,3  deed  was  executed  by  those  nations,  for 
the  same  lands,  in  the  same  words,  with  the  same  boun- 
daries, which  deed  is  dated  January  2ist,  1785.  Both 
these  deeds,  with  the  treaties,  or  conferences,  are  printed 
at  large,  in  the  journals  of  the  assembly,  in  the  appendix 
to  the  journal  of  the  session  of  February — April,  1785. 
>  Thus,  in  a  period  of  about  one  hundred  and  two  years 
I  the  whole  right  of  soil  of  the  Indians,  within  the  charter 
bounds  of  Pennsylvania,  was  extinguished,  by  purchase 
from  them. — Laius  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  123. 


The   founder's   intention  was  therefore  carried  out  as 
far  as  the  purchase  of  the  Ind'an  titles ;  and  it  must  be 
remembered  in  this  coniu  ction  that  he  alone  with  but 
rare  exceptions,  among  all,  whether  Governments,  nations 
or  individuals  who  took  possession   of   the    Continent 
recognized  the  Indian  Title.     It  must  be  further  remem- 
bered  that  he   made  not  one  purchase,  nor  from  one- 
tribe,  nor  for  the  whole  State  at  any  one  time,  but  from  " 
every  tribe  which  claimed  possession,  and  that  the  con-" 


On  the  3d  of  October,  1788,  an  act  was  passed  entitled,  an  act  to  authorize  the 
supreme  executive  council  to  draw  on  the  stale  treasurer  for  a  sum  of  money,  for 
defraying  the  expense  of  purchasing  of  the  Indians,  lands  on  lake  Erie  (chap. 
1355.)  By  which  act  a  sum  of  £1200  was  granted  to  purchase  the  Indian  rights, 
in  the  lake  Erie  tract,  bargained  to  be  sold  by  the  United  States  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  a  further  grant-was  added  for  the  same  purpose,  by  an  act  of  the  28th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1789,  (chap.  1439.) 

The  Indian  cession  of  the  Presque  Isle  lands,  is  dated  January  glh,  1789,  and  is  in 
these  words. — The  signing  chiefs  do  acknowledge  the  right  of  soil,  and  jurisdiction 
to,  and  over  that  tract  of  country  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  north  line  of  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the  east  by  the  west  boundary  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
agreeable  to  the  cession  of  that  State  and  Massachusetts  to  the  United  States,  and 
on  the  north  by  the  margin  of  lake  Erie,  including  Presque  Isle;  and  all  the  bays 
and  harbours  along  the  margin  of  lake  Erie,  from  the  west  boundary  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, to  where  the  west  boundary  of  the  State  of  New  York  may  cross  or  intersect 
the  south  margin  of  the  said  lake  Erie,  to  be  vested  in  the  said  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
agreeable  to  an  act  of  Congress  tiated  the  6th  of  June  last,  (1788.) 

By  an  act  of  the  I3th  of  April,  1791,  (chap.  1556)  the  governor  was  authorized 
to  complete  the  purchase  from  the  United  States,  which,  according  to  a  communica- 
tion from  him  to  the  legislature,  was  done  in  March,  1792;  and  the  consideration 
money,  amounting  to  151,640  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents,  paid  in  continental 
certificates,  of  various  descriptions.  The  deed  of  confirmation  from  the  United 
States  is  dated  March  3d,  1792,  which  is  recorded  in  the  Roll's  Office  in  deed  book 
No.  31,  p.  107,  April  25,  \1 92. —  Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  123-4. 


32 

-  side  ration  aggregated  a  large  amount  altogether1 — with 
what  he  paid  in  every  way  from  first  to  last  exhausting 
his  inheritance  from  his  father  and  his  whole  available 

-  possessions ;    and   that    he  continued    his  policy  in  his 
I  successors.     Many   strings  of  beads  which   was    their 

-  only  money,  many  fathoms  of  Stroud  waters  which  was 
—their  better  clothing,  many  hoes  and  axes  which  were 

-  their,  first  implements  for  less  toilsome  labor  for  their 
women  ;  in  a  word,  whatever  had  value  for  their  pur 

—poses  in  very  adequate  quantities.     The  deeds  from  the 

-  Indian  Aborigines  cited  above  and  which  were  rescued 
from  the  unrecorded  waste  in  our  State  Archives  years 

afterwards  were  by  no  means  the  whole  number  ;2  the 

1 "  My  profit  by  the  Indians  was  never  sixpence,  but  my  known  perpetual  bounties 
to  them  have  cost  me  many  hundreds  of  pounds,  if  not  some  thousands  first  and 
last." — Penn's  Anrtver  P.  6°  L.  Corr.,  Vol.  1.,  p.  27. 

He  sometimes  repurchased  the  same  property  from  another  tribe — of  which  the 
following  was  a  notable  instance  : 

At  his  first  coming  over  late  in  November,  1682  (40  years  prior  to  1722),  he 
went  to  New  York  and  got  some  persons  to  purchase  the  lands  on  the  Susquehannj 
from  the  five  nations  svho  claimed  them  by  right  of  conquest — for  which  he  sent  a 
great  many  goods  in  a  vessel  to  New  York,  yet  such  was  his  sense  of  equity  that 
when  he  found  those  living  on  the  lands  "  were  sorry,"  he  lay  the  parchments  on 
the  ground  before  them  to  signify  that  the  ground  was  again  free  to  all  once  more 
as  before,  and  then  entered  into  a  new  agreement  and  repurchased  from  them  the 
same  land. — An  Enquiry,  London,  1759. 

The  Indian  deed  to  Colonel  Dongan  is  not  known  to  exist,  nor  is  there  any  trace 
of  it  in  the  public  offices.  It  is  known,  however,  that  he  was  the  agent  of  William 
Penn  to  make  the  purchase. — Laws  of  Pa.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  in. 

2  A  list  of  Indian  purchases,  in  which  these  deeds  appear,  was  made  out  before 
1759  by-Charles  Thomson  as  follows  : 

Second  October,  1683, lands  on  Duck  Creek;  I2th  January,  1696,  on  the  Susque- 
hanna;  ijth  September,  1700,  on  the  Susquehanna;  5th  July,  1697,  on  the  Penne- 
pack ;  23rd  April,  1701,  which  were  Articles  of  Friendship  and  agreement  with 


33 

most  important  paper  described  in  this  volume  among 
very  many  others  and  having  no  representation  but 
the  envelope  in  which  it  was  enclosed.  It  must  also 
be  considered  that  the  F'ounder  was  obliged  to  release 
his  lather's  large  claim  on  the  British  Government,  for 
the  British  title  which  was  more  valueless  than  that  of 
the  Aborigines ;  a  title  neither  based  on  conquest,  nor 
occupancy,  nor  discovery,  and  which  was  made  wholly 
worthless  within  a  Century  by  the  Settlers  themselves ; 
that  the  title  of  the  Indians  was  neither  initiated  by  the 
exclusive  occupancy  of  one  tribe,  nor  completed  by  the 
expenditure  of  labor  upon  the  ground,  but  existed  only 
in  the  vagrant  holding  of  whatever  tribe  held  temporary 
advantage  over  another.  That  the  land  itself  was  with- 
out value  until  made  valuable  by  the  labor  of  his  fol- 
lowers, to  which  heart,  spirit  and  purpose  was  given  by 
the  wise  and  humane  direction  of  the  Founder.  From 
which  facts  result,  as  it  does  always  in  the  most  valuable 
work  for  humanity,  that  every  one  received  compensa- 
tory advantages,  except  the  Founder,  who  was  himself 

William  Penn ;  I7th  September,  1718,  Duck  Creek  to  Lechay ;  nth  October,  1736, 
Release  of  Susquehanna  lands  ;  25th  October,  1736,  Lands  South  of  Kittocktanny 
Hills;  25th  Aug.,  1737,  Deed  from  Pitcocks  falls  west;  23rd  July,  1748,  Articles 
of  Friendship  between  the  chiefs  of  the  Tweghtwees  and  the  government  of  Pennsyl- 
vania; 22nd  Aug.,  1749,  Release  of  land  between  Kictocktinny  and  Maghoinoy; 
6th  July,  1754,  Release  of  lands  west  side  of  the  Susquehanna;  gth  July,  1754,  In- 
dorsement on  Deed. 

At  the  time  this  list  was  made,  "there  was  a  considerable  number  of  other  Indian 
deeds  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  for  lands  purchased  at  several  times  particular!) 
in  1/32-3,  but  which  they  would  never  record  nor  would  they  produce." — An 
Enquiry,  London,  1759.  H.  S.  Lib. 


34 

brought  to  ruin  by  his  wise  and  honest  endeavor,  and 
his  whole  establishment  finally  lost  to  his  family.1 

1  In  a  letter  in  1684  he  says :  And  thou  Philadelphia,  the  Virgin  settlement  named 
before  thou  wert  born,  what  love,  what  care,  what  service,  and  what  travail,  has 
there  been  to  bring  thee  forth,  and  preserve  thee,  from  such  as  would  defile  thee. 

In  a  letter  to  James  Logan,  8th  6th  mo.,  1704,  he  says:  O  Pennsylvania  what  hast 
thou  cost  me?  Above  _£3O,ooo  more  than  I  ever  got  by  it;  two  hazardous  and 
most  fatiguing  voyages ;  my  straights  and  slavery  here. 

Another  letter,  I4th  Jlh  mo.,  1705,  on  the  account  of  settling  and  maintaining  the 
colony  I  spent  ,£10,000  the  first  two  years  as  appears  by  my  accounts  here,  ^"3,000 
Dverspent  in  King  James'  time  and  no  supply  coming  from  Pennsylvania.  The  vast 
mm  of  money  also  I  have  melted  away  here  in  London. —  Gordon's  History,  607-8. 

The  survey  of  Mason  and  Dixon  in  1762  cost  the  Penn  Family  $100,000. — Hist 
of  Erie  Co.,  p.  58. 


THE   GREAT   TREATY. 

was  the  execution  of  his  first  object  in  coming 
to  the  province — to  treat  with  them  about  land. 

The  evidence  that  he  executed  his  second  purpose 
— "  to  live  on  friendly  terms  with  thee  " — to  make 
"the  firm  league  of  peace  "^is  no  less  conclusive.  We 
might  reason  a  priori,  that  he  would  the  more  certainly 
have  executed  this  latter  purpose. 

He  who  placed  the  true  and  loving  lives  of  all  hu- 
manity above  money  considerations,  would  not  have  been 
satisfied  with  the  simple  barter  of  beads,  few  or  many, 
of  little  value  to  him,  for  ground,  whether  measured  by 
inches  or  strode  over  by  day's  journeys,  for  men  or 
horses,  of  as  little  value  to  them,  but  would  have 
sought  these  Aboriginese  as  he  did  the  poor  and 
humble  everywhere,  and  made  peace  between  God  and 
him  and  them  in  this  only  way — the  pledge  of,  and  the 
living  of,  true  lives  to  each  other. 

What  was  of  the  most  real  importance  to  him  was 
that  brotherly  love  should  continue  between  them  and 
him,  and  every  one.  Lands  and  money  and  titles  were 
his  by  his  inheritance,  but  he  preferred  to  walk  the  Lon- 

(35) 


37 

don  streets  breadless,  to  go  to  the  tower  and  to  death,  if 
thereby  he  might  keep  his  protest  on  his  head,  against 
cant,  and  war,  and  the  inhumanity  of  men  to  each  other. 

But  the  assurance  that  he  carried  out  the  second  pur- 
pose rests  neither  on  its  probabilities,  nor  tradition  only 
— but  the  records  of  the  history  of  his  work,  which  we 
now  cite  here. 

COUNCIL  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  i6th  June,  1718. 

The  Chief  of  the  Conestogoa  Indians,  the  Shawnois 
The  old  League  above  Conestoooe,  Ganawais  &  Delawares, 

of  friendship  re-  . 

waited  on  the  Governr.  &  Council ;  the  Cap- 
tain of  the  Conestogoes,  said  they  were  on  a  ffriendly 
visit  to  Renew  the  old  League  of  friendship  that  had 
hitherto  been  between  us  and  them, 

Post  Meridiem, 

The  Governr.  Ordered  the  Interpreters  to  Deliver 
them  what  follows  in  writing, 

That  their  ffriendly  visit  on  a  Design  to  Brighten  & 
Strengthen  the  Chain  which  had  for  so  many  years 
bound  &  united  them  &  this  Governmt.  together  as  one 
People,  was  very  acceptable.  They  were  sensible  that 
William  Penn,  Lord  of  this  Country,  had  been  as  a  Com- 
mon ffather  to  them  ;  he  had  Given  it  in  Charge  to  all 
those  who  Governed  in  his  stead,  to  treat  them  in  the 
same  ffriendly  manner  he  had  Done  himself. —  Col.  Rec., 
Vol.  III.,  page  38. 

COUNCIL  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  July  the  i2th,  1720. 

James  Logan,  Secretary,  reported  to  the  Board,  That 


426177 


33 

the  Governour  had  desired  him  to  proceed  to  Sasque- 
hannah,  and  their  discourse  the  Indians.  That  he  went; 
That  the  Chiefs  of  the  Mingoes,  the  Shawanese,  the 
Ganawese,  and  some  of  the  Delawares,  met  him;  the 
Mingoes  spoke  as  follows, 

That  when  Governour  Penn  first  held  Councils  with 
w.iiiam  Penn-s  them,  he  promised  them  so  much  Love  and 

p  omises  at  the  .  111 

nrst  Treaty.  Friendship  that  he  would  not  call  them 
Brothers,  because  Brothers  might  differ,  nor  Children 
because  these  might  offend  and  require  Correction,  but 
he  would  reckon  them  as  one  Body,  and  Blood,  one 
Heart  and  one  Head;  But  few  of  the  old  men  who  were 
at  those  Councils  were  living ;  These  were  removed, 
and  those  who  were  then  very  young  are  now  grown  up 
to  succeed,  but  they  transmitted  it  to  their  Children,  and 
they  and  all  theirs  should  remember  it  forever ; 

The  Ganawese  say,  That  their  present  Chief  was  once 
at  Council  with  William  Penn  before  they  removed  into 
this  province,  and  that  since  they  came  into  it,  they  have 
always  lived  quiet  and  in  Peace,  When  the  Sun  sets  they 
sleep  in  Peace  and  in  Peace  they  rise  with  him,  and  so 
continue  while  he  continues  his  course,  and  think  them- 
selves happy  in  their  Friendship,  which  they  shall  take 
Care  to  have  continued  from  Generation  to  Generation. 

The  Conestogoes  say,  That  William  Penn  made  a 
wniiara  Penn  League  with  them  to  last  for  three  or  four 

made  a  league  .  111 

with  them  to  last  Generations  ;    I  hat  he  is  now  dead,  and  most 

for  three  or  tour 

of  their  ancients  are  also  dead,  but  the  League 


39 

still  remains,  and  they  take  this  Opportunity  to  renew 
and  strengthen  it  with  their  ffriend.  One  Generation 
may  die,  and  another  may  die,  but  the  League  of  Friend- 
ship continues  strong  and  shall  forever  continue. 

The  Indians  being  met  again  the  Secretary  spoke  to 
them  as  follows :  It  must  be  a  great  Satisfaction  to  all 
honest  and  good  men,  to  find  that  the  measures  that 
great  man  Wm.  Penn,  took  to  establish  a  firm  Friend- 
ship with  you  has  had  such  excellent  Success.  You  on 
your  parts  have  been  faithful  and  true  unto  us,  the  Chain 
was  still  preserved  strong  and  bright.  You  never 
violated  it. 

We  have 'lived  in  perfect  Peace  and  Unity  above  any 
other  Government  in  America;  you  renewing  the  Chain 
at  this  time  upon  the  Decease  of  your  great  Friend, 
with  us  who  remain  alive,  is  so  affectionate  and  kind 
that  I  shall  not  fail  to  represent  it  duly  to  the  Governour 
madeTTe7rW4o  and  yourgood  Friends  in  Philadelphia.  This 

years  before  1 720      /~*  i       •        i  i  1  r 

<i682).  Cham  has  been  made  near  forty  years  agoe ; 

It  is  at  this  time  strong  and  bright  as  ever,  and  I  hope 
will  continue  so  between  our  Children  and  your  Children, 
and  their  Children's  Children  to  all  Generations,  while 
the  water  flows  or  the  sun  shines  in  the  Heavens. — Col. 
Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  page  88. 

A  COUNCIL  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  July  the  i9th,  1720. 

William  Keith  Esqr.,  The  Governour  presented  the 
Draught  of  a  Letter  to  the  President  of  New  York,  a? 
follows : 


4o 

Philadelphia,  July  iQth,  1720.  When  Governour 
Penn  first  settled  this  Country,  he  made  it  his  Chief  Care 
to  cultivate  a  strict  Alliance  and  Friendship  with  all  the 
Indians ;  when  he  came  to  treat  with  the  Indians  settled 
upon  the  River  Sasquehannah,  finding  that  they  ac- 
counted themselves  a  Branch  of  the  Mingoes  or  ffive 
Nations,  he  prevailed  with  Colonel  Dongan,  the  Gov- 
ernour of  New  York,  to  treat  with  those  Nations  in  his 
behalf,  and  to  purchase  from  them  all  their  claim  of 
Right  to  the  Lands  on  both  sides  of  Sasquehannah, 
which  Colonel  Dongan  did  accordingly;  and  for  a  valu- 
able consideration  paid  in  Sterling  money,  Colonel  Don- 
gan, by  good  Deeds  transferr'd  or  convey'd  his  said 
Right  purchased  from  the  Five  Nations  to  Governour 
Penn  &  his  Heirs,  in  due  Form  of  Law. 

Upon  Governour  Penn's  last  arrival  here,  about 
Another  Treaty  twenty  "years  agoe,  he  held  a.  Treaty  with  the 

made  20  years  .  *;* 

prior  to  1720.  Mingoes  or  Conestogoe  Indians  settled  on 
Sasquehannah;  their  Chiefs,  did  then  not  only  acknowl- 
edge the  Sale  of  those  Lands  made  to  Colonel  Dongan 
as  above,  but  as  much  as  in  them  lay  did  also  renew  and 
confirm  the  same  to  Governour  Penn. — Col.  Rec.,  Vol. 
III.,  page  95. 

COUNCIL    AT    PHILADELPHIA,   March    the    2ist,    1721. 

Sir  William  Keith,  Bart.,  Governour.     James  Logan  & 

A  reference  to      Colonel  John  French  report  they  met  with  the 

Chiefs  of  the  Mingoe  or  Conestogoe  Indians, 

of  the  Shawanese  &  Ganawese,  and  some  of  the  Dela- 


wares  in  Council,  and  spoke  to  them  in  the  following 
Words ;  William  Penn  our  and  your  Father,  when  he 
first  settled  this  Country  with  English  Subjects,  made  a 
firm  League  of  Friendship  and  Brotherhood  with  all  the 
Indians  then  in  these  parts,  and  agreed  that  both  you 
and  his  People  should  be  all  as  one  Flesh  and  Blood. 
The  same  League  has  often  been  renewed  by  himself 
and  other  Governours  under  him,  with  their  Councils, 
held  as  well  in  this  place  where  we  now  are  as  at 
Philadia.  and  other  places.  His  People  and  yours  have 
hitherto  inviolably  observed  these  Leagues. 

And  to  the  Messenger  we  delivered  the  following 
Words  as  the  signification  of  the  Belt  we  sent  with  him, 
viz:  Deliver  this  Belt  from  the  Governour  and  Govern- 
ment of'Pennsilvania  to  the  King  or  Chief  of  the  Sinne- 
wniiampenn  kaes,  and  say  that  the  words  it  brings  are 
near  4o  years  these.  William  Penn  made  a  firm  Peace  and 

prior  to  1721 

League  with  the  Indians  in  these  parts  near 
forty  years  agoe,  which  League  has  often  been  renewed 
and  never  broken. —  Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  page  152. 

COUNCIL  AT  CONESTOGOE,  July  the  yth,  1721.  Sir 
William  Keith,  Bart,  Governour.  Ghesaont,  on  the  be- 
half of  all  the  ffive  Nations  delivered  himself  as  follows: 
They  were  glad  to  see  the  Governour  and  his  Council 
at  this  place,  they  find  him  to  be  their  Friend  and  Brother, 
and  the  same  as  if  William  Penn  was  still  amongst  them. 
They  assure  the  Governour  and  Council  that  they  had 
not  forgot  William  Penn's  Treaties  with  them,  and  that 


42 

his  advice  to  them  was  still  fresh  in  their  memories. 
Though  they  cannot  write,  yet  they  retain  every  thing- 
said  in  their  Councils  with  all  the  Nations  they  treat 
with,  and  preserve  it  as  carefully  in  their  memories  as  if 
it  was  committed  in  our  method  to  Writing. —  Col.  Rec., 
Vol.  III.,  page  1 19. 

COUNCIL  AT  CONESTOGOE,  July  the  8th,  1721. 

Sir  William  Keith  Bart.,  Governour  spoke  to  them  in 
these  Words. 

I  am  glad  to  find  that  you  remember  what  William 
Penn  formerly  said  to  you ;  He  was  a  great  and  a  good 
man,  his  own  People  loved  him  ;  He  loved  the  Indians, 
and  they  also  loved  him,  Though  he  is  now  removed 
from  us,  yet  his  children  and  people  following  his  Ex- 
ample will  always  take  the  same  measures,  So  that  his 
and  our  posterity  will  be  as  a  long  chain  of  which  He 
was  the  first  Link,  and  when  one  link  ends  another  suc- 
ceeds, and  then  another,  being  all  firmly  bound  together 
in  one  strong  chain  to  endure  for  ever. —  Col.  Rec.,  Vol. 
III.,  page  122. 

COUNCIL  AT  THE  INDIAN  TOWN  OF  CONESTOGOE,  May 
26th,  1728. 

Chiefs  of  the  Conestogoe  Indians,  some  of  the  Dela- 
wares  on  Brandywine,  Ganawese  Indians  &  Shawanese. 
Patrick  Gordon,  The  Govr.  Spoke  as  follows :  My 
Friends  and  Brethren  :  You  are  sensible  that  the  Great 
William  Penn,  the  Father  of  this  Country,  when  he  first 
brought  his  People  with  him  over  the  broad  Sea,  took 


43 

all  the  Indians  the  old  Inhabitants  by  the  hand,  &  be- 
cause he  found  them  to  be  a  sincere  honest  People  he 
took  them  to  his  heart  &  loved  them  as  his  own.  He 

then  made  a  strong  League  &  Chain  of  Friend- 
He  made  a  league  o 

brought6 hlTpco-  ship  with  them,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that 
the  Indians  &  the  English,  with  all  the  Chris- 
tians, should  be  as  one  People.  Your  Friend  &  Father 
William  Penn  still  retained  a  warm  Affection  for  all  the 
Indians,  &  strictly  commanded  those  whom  he  sent  to 
govern  this  People  to  treat  the  Indians  as  their  Children, 
&  continued  in  this  kind  love  for  them  until  his  Death. 

His  Sons  have  now  sent  me  over  in  their  Stead,  & 
they  gave  me  strict  Charge  to  love  all  the  Indians  as 
their  Brethren,  &  as  their  Father  William  Penn  loved 
you. 

I  am  now  come  to  see  you,  and  to  renew  the  ancient 
Friendship  which  has  been  between  William  Penn's 
People  and  you,  the  Conestogoes,  Delawares,  Ganawese 
and  Shawanese  Indians  upon  Sasquehannah. 

My  Brethren : 

You  have  been  faithful  to  your  Leagues  with  us,  your 
Hearts  have  been  clean,  &  you  have  preserved  the 
Chain  from  Spotts  or  Rust,  or  if  there  are  any  you  have 
been  carefull  to  wipe  them  away;  your  Leagues  with 
you  Father  William  Penn,  &  with  his  Governours  are  in 
Writing  on  Record,  that  our  Children  &  our  Childrens 
Children  may  have  them  in  everlasting  Remembrance. 
And  we  know  that  you  preserve  the  memory  of  those 


44 

things  amongst  you  by  telling  them  to  your  Children,  & 
they  again  to  the  next  Generation,  so  that  they  remain 
stamp'd  on  your  Minds  never  to  be  forgott. 

The  Chief  Heads  or  strongest  Links  of  this  Chain  I 
The  chief  heads  find  are  these  Nine,  vizt.: 

then  made  were  j  St       "That      all      William      PcttttS      People      OP 

Christians,  and  all  the  Indians  should  be  brethren,  as 
the  Children  of  one  Father,  joyned  together  as  with  one 
Heart,  one  Head  &  one  Body. 

2nd.  "That  all  Paths  should  be  open  and  free  to  both 
Christians  and  Indians. 

3rd.  "That  the  Doors  of  the  Christians  Houses 
should  be  open  to  the  Indians  &  the  Houses  of  the  In- 
dians open  to  the  Christians,  &  that  they  should  make 
each  other  welcome  as  their  Friends. 

4th.  "That  the  Christians  should  not  believe  any  false 
Rumours  or  Reports  of  the  Indians,  nor  the  Indians 
believe  any  such  Rumors  or  Reports  of  the  Christians, 
but  should  first  come  as  Brethren  to  enquire  of  each 
other ;  And  that  both  Christians  &  Indians,  when  they 
hear  any  such  false  Reports  of  their  Brethren,  they 
should  bury  them  as  in  a  bottomless  Pitt. 

5th.  "That  if  the  Christians  heard  any  ill  news  that 
may  be  to  the  Hurt  of  the  Indians,  or  the  Indians  hear 
any  such  ill  news  that  may  be  to  the  Injury  of  the 
Christians,  they  should  acquaint  each  other  with  it 
speedily  as  true  Friends  &  Brethren. 

6th.  "That  the  Indians  should  do  no  manner  of  Harm 


45 

to  the  Christians  nor  their  Creatures,  nor  the  Christians 
do  any  Hurt  to  any  Indians,  but  each  treat  the  other  as 
their  Brethren. 

7th.  "But  as  there  are  wicked  People  in  all  Nations, 
if  either  Indians  or  Christians  should  do  any  harm  to 
each  other,  Complaint  should  be  made  of  it  by  the  Per- 
sons Suffering  that  Right  may  be  done,  &  when  Satis- 
faction is  made,  the  Injury  or  Wrong  should  be  forgott 
&  be  buried  as  in  a  bottomless  Pitt. 

8th.  "That  the  Indians  should  in  all  things  assist  the 
Christians,  &  the  Christians  assist  the  Indians  against 
all  wicked  People  that  would  disturb  them. 

9th.  "And  lastly,  that  both  Christians  &  Indians  should 
acquaint  their  Children  with  this  League  &  firm  Chain 
of  Friendship  made  between  them,  &  that  it  should 
always  be  made  stronger  &  stronger  &  be  kept  bright 
&  clean,  withouc  Rust  or  Spott  between  our  Children 
and  Childrens  Children,  while  the  Creeks  and  Rivers 
run,  and  while  the  Sun,  Moon  &  Stars  endure. 

"  My  Brethren  : 

"I  have  now  spoke  to  the  League  and  Chain  of 
Friendship,  first  made  by  your  Father  William  Penn 
with  your  Fathers,  which  is  confirmed." — Col.  Rec.,  Vol. 
III.,  pages  329-30. 

COUNCIL  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  June  4th,  1728. 

Patrick  Gordon,  Esqr.,  Lieut.  Governr.  and  the  King 
of  the  Delawares,  five  Nations  &  a  Shawanese.  The 
Governour  spoke  as  follows : 


46 

When  your  Great  Father  William  Penn's  Children 
sent  me  hither,  they  commanded  me  to  love  &  be  kind 
to  the  Indians  as  their  Brethren,  I  appointed  a  Meeting, 
at  which  I  desired  the  other  Chiefs  might  be  present, 
that  we  might  all  together,  as  Friends  and  Brethren, 
renew  and  strengthen  the  Chain  of  Friendship  which 
your  Father  William  Penn  made  with  all  the 

All  the  Indians        J 

weJeer  prr°elnncttd  Indians  of  this  Province,  that  it  jnay  be  kept 

at  the  Treaty.          i       •      i    .     r 

bright  forever. 

About  ten  days  since  I  mett  the  Indians  of  Conestogoe, 
the  Shawanese,  Ganawese,  &  divers  of  the  Delawares 
at  Conestogoe  town,  we  then  opened  our  Hearts,  we 
spoke  as  Brethren  &  Friends,  we  brightened  the  Chain 
&  made  it  strong,  that  it  might  last  &  continue  firm, 
while  the  Sun  &  Moon  endure. 

Wre  then  went  over  all  the  Heads,  the  strong  Links 

o 

of  the  Chain  made  between  your  Father  William  Penn 
&  the  Indians,  we  keep  them  in  writing,  that  they  may 
be  had  in  everlasting  Remembrance,  the  Indians  also 
keep  them  in  their  Memory  &  in  their  Hearts,  they  tell 
them  to  their  Children,  &  these  tell  them  again  to  their 
Children,  that  from  Generation  to  Generation  they  may 
be  remembered  forever.  These  are  the  Chief  Points 
of  those  Treaties  that  were  first  made  by  William  Penn 
with  your  Fathers,  &  have  since  from  time  to  time  been 
confirmed. 

(The  nine  Heads  or  Links  mentioned  in  the  Treaty 
of  Conestogoe  were  repeated.) — Col  Rec .,  Vol.  III., 
page  334-5- 


47 

AT  THE  COURTHO.  OF  PmLADiA.,  October  loth,  1728. 

Patrick  Gordon,  Esqr.,  Lieut.  Governr.  present,  also 
Sassoonan  £  Chiefs  of  the  Delawares,  five  Nations, 
Brandywine  Indians,  with  several  others. 

Sassoonan,  spoke  as  follows :  That  when  their  Father, 
William  Penn,  was  in  this  country,  it  was  agreed  that 
both  Christians  and  Indians  should  joyn  in  removing  all 
Difficulties,  &  if  any  Stone  or  Stump  should  ly  in  the 
Way,  that  both  should  joyn  their  Hands  together  & 
help  to  remove  it,  that  old  men  &  Children  might  walk 
safely. — Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  page  353. 

October  i  ith. 

The  Governour  spoke  to  them  in  these  Words :  As 
The  imks  of  the  >'ou  are  now  come,  tho'  few  in  Number  Yet 
andgoneonverp  in  the  Name  of  all  the  Delawares,  Shawanese, 

again  by  Cover- 

nor  Gordon.  &  Mingoes,  amongst  us,  to  declare  your 
Friendship,  &  their  resolution  to  live  in  Peace  unto  the 
Christians  forever,  I  will  again  goe  over  the  Links  of  the 
Chain  made  between  William  Penn  and  you,  which  I  re- 
peated to  my  Brethren  at  Conestogoe  in  the  Summer, 
that  they  may  be  the  more  fresh  in  your  Minds,  because 
you  have  no  Writing  amongst  you,  &  I  desire  that  you 
may  repeat  them  over  and  over  again  to  your  Children, 
&  to  all  your  People,  &  to  all  the  Indians  that  live 
amongst  you,  that  you  may  have  them  at  all  times 
stamp'd  on  your  Hearts  and  fixed  in  your  View." 

(Here  the  nine  Articles  or  Links  of  the  Chain,  as  in 
the  Treaty  held  at  Conestogoe,  were  repeated.) — Col. 
Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  pages  255-6. 


48 

COUNCIL  AT  PIIILADIA.,  May  26th,  1729. 

Tawenna  stood  up  &   said :    He   never  spoke  since 

William  Penn  was  here  till  last  Spring,  &  he  now  speaks 

the  same  again  to  the  Governour,  That  William  Penn 

in  his  house  in  this  town,  told  them  they  must 

Fan-man  or  Lass  J 

wheresthe°wr!ting  be  one  Body  &  he  now  says  the  same ;  they 
are  not  to  be  as  People  bound  together  to 
each  other,  tho'  the  Bonds  were  ever  so  strong,  tho'  they 
were  of  Iron,  for  even  in  that  case  the  one  may  suffer 
&  the  other  escape,  but  they  &  we,  as  William  Penn 
said,  must  be  as  the  same  Body,  half  the  one  &  half  the 
other,  that  cannot  be  divided,  that  each  may  both  have 
Joy  &  Pain  alike,  as  the  same  Body  without  any  Divi- 
sion. William  Penn  said  that  as  both  Nations  were  to 
be  the  same  Body,  so  if  by  any  stroke  that  Body  were 
to  be  divided  down  the  middle  into  two  parts  so  that 
they  fell  assunder,  This  should  be  looked  upon  as  the 
act  of  Providence,  which  neither  could  help  or  be  blamed 
for. 

William  Penn  further  said,  that  if  all  the  People  around 
us  should  differ  one  with  another,  yet  we  must  not  differ 
but  continue  the  same  in  Love  and  Peace  ;  that  the  In- 
dians ought  not  hastily  to  goe  out  to  War  but  rather 
should  study  Peace,  &  that  if  they  were  attacked  he  & 
his  People  would  be  ready  to  defend  them,  for  that  we 
are  all  as  one  People.  William  Penn  told  the  Indians 
that  he  loved  them  all,  their  Men,  Women  &  Children, 
and  that  he  held  Councils  with  them  to  perpetuate  the 


49 

Remembrance  of  his  Affection  towards  them,  that  the 
Friendship  he  had  established  with  them  was  to  last  for 
many  Generations ;  that  their  old  Men  die  &  others 
come  in  their  Room,  who  likewise  die,  but  that  the  Love 
&  Friendship  between  the  English  &  Indians  ought  to 
remain  forever. —  Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  pages  383-85. 

That  William  Penn  is  dead,  but  he  now  repeats  all 
these  things  to  the  Governour  whom  he  looks  upon  as 
in  his  stead,  &  as  if  William  Penn  himself  were  alive ; 
that  he  remembers  all  these  things  which  were  then 
said,  and  He  has  now  spoke  in  the  Name  of  the  Cones- 
togoe,  Ganawese,  Delaware,  &  Shawanese  Indians. — 
Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  page  386. 

COUNCIL  AT  PHILADIA.,  May  27th,  1729. 

Patrick  Gordon,  Esqr.,  Lieut.  Governr.  And  the  same 
r.vemor Gordon  Indians  as  before,  The  Governour  spoke  in 
w£rds%f*henfirst  these  words :  I  am  glad  to  find  by  your  Dis- 

Treaty  which 

they  remember,  course,  that  you  not  only  remember  what  I 
said  to  you  last  Spring,  but  also  there  are  some  yet  liv- 
ing amongst  you  who  can  remember  what  your  Father 
William  Penn  said  to  your  People  when  he  was  in  the 
Countrey,  from  thence  you  see  that  His  Words  &  mine 
are  the  same.  He  agreed  with  all  the  Indians  whom  he 
treated  with  in  the  several  Points  that  I  laid  before  you 
at  Conestogoe :  they  were  his  Words,  tho'  spoken  by 
me,  &  as  I  observe  the  old  Men  well  remember  them; 
so  now  I  desire  you  again  to  repeat  them  over  to  your 
Children  &  require  them  to  remember  them  &  to  repeat 


50 

them  again  to  their  Children,  that  the  same  may  be  con- 
tinued not  only  to  your  Children  but  through  all  Genera- 
tions &  to  all  Ages. 

By  this  means  we  shall  truely  continue  not  only 
Friends  &  Brothers,  but  one  People,  of  one  Body,  one 
Mind  &  one  Heart.  We  shall  rejoyce  together  &  be 
sorrowfull  together,  &  we  shall  all  be  the  same. —  CoL 
Rec.t  Vol.  III.,  pages  386-87. 

Letter  of  Gov.  Gordon  to  Delaware  Indians,  1731,  at 
Alleghening: 

I  find  that  when  your  father  William  Penn  first  came 
fim^yaga*6  mt°  this  Country  he  called  all  the  Indians  to- 
gether and  made  a  strong  chain  &  league  of  friendship 
with  them,  which  was  that  He  and  his  People  and  they 
and  their  People  &  their  Children  and  Children's  Chil- 
dren &  their  Children  and  so  forward  to  all  ages  and 
generations,  should  be  one  people  as  of  the  same  flesh 
and  blood  and  the  same  body  as  long  as  the  Waters 
should  flow  and  the  Sun,  Moon  and  Stars  endure.  And 
William  Penn  gave  it  always  in  Charge  to  all  his  Gov- 
ernours  whom  he  sent  into  this  Country  in  his  stead  to 
be  kind  to  all  the  Indians  as  his  Brethren  and  Children^ 
and  accordingly  all  the  Governours  of  this  place  have 
from  time  to  time  renew'd  the  same  Treaty  and 
brightned  the  Chain  with  all  the  Indians  and  we  have 
lived  and  doe  live  as  true  friends  and  brethren.  If  any 
white  man  hurt  an  Indian  he  is  punished  for  it,  and  you 
have  heard  that  some  of  our  people  have  been  hang'c 


on  a  Gallows  for  being  wicked  to  the  Indians.  I  wrote 
the  Order  for  it  and  they  were  putt  to  death  because 
they  had  abused  our  brethren. — Pa.  Arch.,  Vol.  I.,  p. 

303- 

COUNCIL  HELD  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  August  23d,  1732. 
Thomas    Penn,    Esqr.,    Proprietary.     James    Logan, 
Isaac  Norris,  Samuel  Preston,  Samuel  Hasell, 

Thomas  Penn  re- 

fimma^ebyUls  Thomas  Laurence,  Esq'rs.  Present  also: 
Chiefs  of  the  Tsanandowas :  Chiefs  of  the 
Cayooges,  &  Oneidas ;  The  Proprietor,  spoke  as  fol- 
lows ; 

I  need  not  inform  you  that  when  my  Father,  William 
Penn,  was  Sent  by  the  Great  King  of  England  to  bring 
over  large  Numbers  of  his  People  to  settle  in  this  Coun- 
try, he  made  it  his  first  and  principal  Care  to  convince 
all  the  Indians  inhabiting  it,  that  he  came  with  a  full 
Design  to  be  their  Friend  and  Benefactor. 

And  he  entered  into  the  Strictest  League  of  Amity 
with  them,  not  only  between  himself  and  his  People  and 
the  Indians  then  living,  but  to  continue  between  his 
Children  and  their  Children  and  their  Posterity  to  all 
Generations,  &  for  this  Purpose  he  made  with  them  a 
Chain  of  Friendship,  to  be  kept  Strong  and  bright  for- 
ever. And  when  his  Affairs  in  England  obliged  him 
to  leave  this  Country,  he  gave  it  strictly  in  Charge  to 
all  his  Governors  and  People  in  Power  under  him,  that 
they  should  in  the  same  manner  treat  all  the  Indians 
as  he  had  done ;  That  they  should  be  as  Fathers  to 


52 

them,  &  that  all  his  People  should  live  in  perfect  Peace 
and  Brotherhood  with  all  the  Indians,  as  if  they  were 
of  one  Blood  and  one  Body,  without  distinction. 

I  am  but  young,  and  having  been  bred  in  England 
could  not  see  those  things  with  my  own  Eyes,  but  I  Con- 
stantly had  Accounts  in  writing  of  all  that  was  done 
here,  as  if  I  had  been  myself  in  the  Place,  and  by  read- 
ing these  over  again  I  now  know  them  better  than  if  I 
had  been  present,  and  were  to  be  informed  by  Memory 
only,  so  that  I  can  fully  speak  to  them. 

And  now,  since  I  am  here  with  you  my  Self,  I  do 
assure  you  that  the  Friendship  &  strict  Union  which 
my  Father  began  with  all  our  Friends,  the  Indians,  and 
his  Governors  after  him  have  cultivated,  I  shall  take 
Care  to  improve  and  strengthen.  My  Father  made  a 
Chain  and  Covenant  for  himself  and  his  Children,  and 
I  his  Son,  will  to  the  best  of  my  Power  make  that  Chain 
yet  stronger  and  brighter  on  our  Parts;  that  it  may 
continue  so  to  all  Generations. — Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  p. 
466. 

COUNCIL  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  the  Great  Meeting  house, 
August  3ist,  1732.  Thomas  Penn,  Esqr., 

The  links  of  the  &  °  '  ° 

e!rVSThonmIs  Proprietary.  A  very  great  Audience,  that 
crowded  the  House  and  all  its  Gallaries.  The 
Chiefs  of  the  Indians  all  their  People  who  accompanied 
them  in  their  Journey — The  clerk  of  the  Council  said, 
"as  we  have  had  several  Treaties  of  Friendship  with  the 
Six  Nations,  &  you  have  always  found  us  steady  & 


53 

constant  to  you  in  all  we  have  professed,  &  we  have 
now  upon  the  Arrival  of  the  Son  of  their  great  Friend, 
William  Penn,  who  first  began  the  Settlement  of  this 
Province,  a  fuller  Opportunity  than  Ever,  of  freely  open- 
ing our  Hearts  to  each  other.  His  Son,  who  has  just 
on  his  Arrival  so  happily  mett  you  here,  with  the  Lieu- 
tenant Governor  and  Council,  for  all  the  People  of  this 
Province,  not  only  renew  &  confirm  all  former  Treaties, 
but  enter  into  the  most  strict  &  closest  League  of  Friend- 
ship, Love  &  Union  with  all  the  Six  Nations  at  first 
named,  desiring  that  the  same  Friendship  may  be  ex- 
tended to  all  the  other  Nations,"  with  whom  you  are  or 
shall  be  in  Alliance,  of  which  these  Heads  that  we  are 
now  to  mention,  are  the  Chief  &  ever  to  be  kept  in  Re- 
membrance : 

ist.  We  shall  consider  the  Six  Nations  as  ourselves, 
and  you  shall  consider  all  our  inhabitants  as  your  own 
people. 

2d.  You  shall  not  believe  any  false  or  idle  Rumours 
concerning  you,  but  each  shall  Enquire  of  the  other 
into  the  Truth  of  what  they  hear. 

3d.  If  you  know  or  learn  any  thing  that  may  hurt  us, 
you  shall  carefully  inform  us  of  it,  and  if  we  hear  any 
thing  that  may  hurt  you,  we  shall  in  like  manner  acquaint 
you. 

4th.  If  any  evil  minded  Person  amongst  us  should 
hurt  any  of  your  People,  they  shall  be  punished  as  if 
they  had  done  it  to  an  English  Subject,  in  which  you 


54 

have  known  some  Instances  of  our  Care,  and  if  any  of 
your  People  hurt  any  of  ours,  we  shall  expect  the  like 
justice. 

5th.  We  will  constantly  keep  a  Fire  for  you  at  Phila- 
delphia, that  when  any  of  the  Chiefs  of  your  Nations 
come  hither,  we  may  sitt  down  together  round  it,  and 
advise  and  consult  of  such  Affairs  as  may  be  for  the 
general  interest  of  both  you  and  us.  On  this  Article 
was  delivered  a  Belt  of  Wampum. 

6th.  And  we  now  desire,  there  may  be  an  open  Road 
between  Philadelphia  and  the  towns  of  the  Six  Nations, 
which  we  will  on  our  parts,  clear  from  every  Grub, 
Stump  &  Log,  that  it  may  be  straight,  smooth  &  free 
for  us  and  you. 

yth.  This  League  and  Chain  of  Friendship  &  Brother- 
hood, we  now  make  with  all  the  Six  Nations,  vizt :  the 
Tsariandowans,  Onandagoes,  Ganyingoes,  Cayoogoes, 
Oneidas  &  Tuscarores,  for  us  and  our  People,  and  for 
our  Children  and  Children's  Children  with  you  for  all 
your  Nations,  and  for  your  Children  &  Children's  Chil- 
dren to  all  Generations,  to  continue  so  long  as  the 
Heavens,  Sun,  Moon,  Stars,  &  the  Earth  shall  Endure. 
And  we  desire  that  the  same  may  at  your  return  be 
ratified  &  confirmed  at  your  great  Fire  by  all  your  Peo- 
ple, and  be  kept  in  perpetual  Remembrance,  and  that  all 
our  Indians  &  all  the  Nations  of  Indians  in  Alliance  with 
you,  may  be  comprehended  within  the  same. 

And  lor  the  Confirmation  hereof,  we  now  make  you 
this  Present 


55 

Then  were  delivered  the  Goods  which,  by  order  of 
the  Board  were  provided  by  the  Treasurer. 

The  Proprietor  was  pleased  to  add  to  the  Present, 
Six  fine  jappaned  &  guilt  Guns,  which  he  brought  over 
with  him,  to  be  delivered  one  to  the  Chief  of  Each  of 
the  Six  Nations. 

The  Indians,  on  receiving  the  Belts  of  Wampum  & 
the  Present,  expressed  their  Thankfullness  by  a  harmo- 
nious Sound  peculiar  to  them,  in  which  those  of  each 
Nation  now  present  joyned  alternately,  &  they  repeated 
the  same  with  great  Seeming  Satisfaction. — Col.  Rec., 
Vol.  III.,  p.  481. 

Directions  being  given  for  their  Entertainment  while 
they  remained  in  Town,  &  for  providing  some  neces- 
saries for  their  Journey,  the  Indians  taking  the  Pro- 
prietor, Governor,  &  Members  of  Council  by  the  hand 
departed,  &  thus  the  Treaty  ended. —  Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III., 
pages  482-83. 

Council  at  Philadelphia,  Septr.  3Oth,  1732. 

Thomas  Penn  Esqr.,  Proprietary.  Shawanese  Chiefs. 
The  Treaty  of  They  were  then  acquainted  that  a  great  Treaty 
ferredto.  had  lately  been  held  with  the  Six  Nations,  that 
a  considerable  Number  of  their  Nation,  about  thirty-four 
years  since,  (as  the  Govc.  told  them  in  his  Letter,)  com- 
ing with  their  Wives  &  Families  to  Settl9  at  Conestogoe, 
they  then  entered  into  a  League  of  Friendship  with  this 
Government ;  first  with  Coll.  Markham,  the  then  Lieu- 
tenant Governor,  and  in  about  three  years  after,  with 


56 

William  Penn,  himself,  who  was  a  Father  to  all  the  In- 
dians: that  from  t!  at  time  the  Shawanese  became  as 
Brothers  to  the  English,  as  all  our  other  Indians  are. — 
Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III.,  pages  491-93. 

COUNCIL  AT  PHILADELPHIA,  October  i6th,  1734. 

Honourable  Proprietaries  John  &  Thomas  Penn  Esqr. 

John  Penn,  Esqr.,  spoke  as  follows.  I  am  well  pleased 
Thomas  Penn  with  the  Opportunity  your  visit  gives  me,  so 

promises  to  . 

strengthen  the     soon  alter  my  Arrival  here,  to  see  my  good 

league  made  with  •  ^     o 

friends  Hetaquantagechty  and  Shekallamy, 
of  both  whom  I  have  received  so  favourable  a  Character 
that  you  shall  always  be  welcome  to  me,  and  I  desire 
you  to  assure  all  the  Indians,  and  particularly  my  good 
friends  of  the  Six  Nations,  that  it  shall  be  my  constant 
care  to  strengthen  that  firm  League  and  Chain  of  Friend- 
ship which  my  Father  first  began,  and  has  since  been 
carefully  preserved  between  the  Indians  and  all  the 
People  within  this  Government. —  Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III., 
pages  626—27. 


58' 

July  29,  1735.  Several  Indians  of  Conestogoe  and 
Susquehannah,  to  the  number  of  Thirty  in  all,  Men, 
Women  &  Children,  coming  to  town  on  a  friendly  visit, 
a  council  was  held. 

COUNCIL  AT  PHILADIA.,  August  ist,  1735.  Thomas 
Penn,.  Esqr.  Proprietary. 

Civility,  by  the  Interpreter,  said : 

That  there  are  now  present  three  different  Nations  of 
the  Indians,  to  witt:  the  Conestogoes,  Ganawese,  and 
Shawanese,  who  are  come  down  to  visit  the  Proprietors, 
and  to  renew  with  them  the  League  &  Chain  of  Friend- 
ship. 

These  Indians  at  a  Council  held  at  Philadia.,  August  2, 
1735,  ratified  the  second  and  last  Great  Treaty  of  Amity. 

THE  TREATY. — Articles  of  Agreement  Indented,  Made, 
Concluded,  &  Agreed  upon  at  Philadelphia, 

The  second  great  » 

theeat/oundweereannd  the  twenty-third  day  of  the  second  Month 
called  April,  in  the  year  One  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  one,  between  William  Penn,1  Proprietary 
and  Governor  of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ter- 
ritories thereunto  belonging,  on  the  one  Part,  And  Con- 
noodaghtoh,  King  of  the  Indians  inhabiting  upon  and 
about  the  River  Susquehannah  in  the  said  Province,  And 

1  It  was  the  Founder's  intention  to  locate  a  second  Philadelphia  on  the  Susque- 
hanna.  "And  I  do  also  intend  that  every  one  who  shall  be  a  purchaser  in  the  pro- 
posed Settlement  shall  have  a  proportionable  lot  in  the  Said  City  to  build  a  house 
or  houses  upon,  which  town  ground  and  the  shares  of  land  that  shall  be  bought  by 
me  shall  be  delivered  clear  of  all  Indian  pretentions,  for  it  has  been  my  way  from 
the  first  to  purchase  their  title  from  them  and  so  settle  with  their  consent."  Pro- 
posals of  William  Penn,  1690. — Hazard's  Rep.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  40x3. 


59 

Widgh  (alias  Orytyagh),  Koqueash  and  Andaggy-junk- 
quagh,  Chiefs  of  the  said  Nations  of  Indians,1  And 
Wopaththa  King,  &  Lenroytungh,  &  Penroyajooag!! 
Chiefs  of  the  Nations  of  the  Shawonnah  Indians,  And 
Ahookassoongh,  Brother  to  the  Emperor,  for  &  in  Be- 
half of  the  Emperor  (&  Weewhinjough,  Cheequittagh 
Takyewsan  &  Woapatkoa,  Chiefs),  of  the  Nations  of 
the  Indians  inhabiting  in  &  about  the  Northern  part  of 
the  River  Potomock,  in  the  said  Province,  for  and 
in  Behalf  of  themselves  and  successors,  and  their 
several  Nations  and  People,  on  the  other  part,  as  fol- 
loweth : 

That  as  hitherto  there  hath  always  been  a  Good  Un- 
derstanding &  Neighbourhood  between  the  said  William 
Penn  and  his  Lieutenant  since  his  first  Arrival  in  the 
said  Province,  and  the  several  Nations  of  Indians  inhab- 
iting in  &  about  the  same,  so  there  shall  be  for  ever 
hereafter,  a  firm  and  everlasting  Peace  continued  between 
the  said  William  Penn,  his  Heirs  and  Successors,  &  all 
the  English  and  other  Christian  Inhabitants  of  the  said 
Province,  &  the  said  Kings  &  Chiefs  &  their  Successors, 
&  all  the  several  People  of  the  Nations  of  Indians  afore- 
said, and  that  they  shall  for  ever  hereafter  be  as  one 
AS  one  head  and  head  &  one  heart,  &  live  in  true  Friendship 
gether.  an(^  Amity  as  one  People.  Item,  that  the  said 

Kings  and  Chiefs  (each  for  himself  &  his  People  En- 

1  The  Conestogas  were  the  remains  of  a  tribe  of  the  six  nations  settled  at  Cones- 
togoe,  and  thence  called  Conestogoe  Indians.     On  the  first  arrival  of  the  English 


.      6o 

gaging)  shall  at  no  time  hurt,  injure  or  Defraud,  or  suffer 
to  be  hurt,  Injured  or  Defrauded,  by  any  of  their  Indians, 
an  Inhabitant  or  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Province, 
either  in  their  Persons  or  Estates.  And  that  the  said 
William  Penn,  his  heirs  and  successors,  shall  not  suffer 
to  be  Done  or  Committed  by  any  of  the  Subjects  of 
England  within  the  said  Province,  any  act  of  Hostilities 
or  Violence,  Wrong  or  Injury  to  or  against  any  of  the 
said  Indians,  but  shall  on  both  sides  at  all  times  readily 
do  Justice  &  perform  all  Acts  and  Offices  of  Friendship 
&  Good  Will,  to  oblige  Each  other  to  a  lasting  Peace  as 
aforesaid.  Item  that  all  &  every  the  said  Kings  and 
Chiefs  &  all  &  every  particular  of  the  Nations  under 
them,  shall  at  all  times  behave  themselves  Regularly 
and  Soberly,  according  to  the  Laws  of  this  Government,, 
while  they  live  near  or  amongst  the  Christian  Inhabitants 
thereof.  And  that  the  said  Indians  shall  have  the  full 
&  free  privileges  &  Immunities  of  all  the  said  Laws  as 
any  other  Inhabitants,  they  duly  Owning  and  Acknowl- 
edgg.  the  Authority  of  the  Crown  of  England  and 

in  Pennsylvania,  messengers  from  this  tribe  came  to  welcome  them  with  presents  of 
venison,  corn  and  skins,  and  the  whole  tribe  entered  into  a  treaty  of  friendship  with 
the  first  proprietor,  William  Penn,  which  was  to  last  as  long  as  the  sun  should  shine 
or  the  water  run  in  the  rivers.  This  treaty  has  been  since  frequently  renewed  and 
the  chain  brightened,  as  they  expressed,  from  time  to  time.  It  has  never  been  vio- 
lated on  their  part  or  ours  till  now.  A  narrative,  etc.,  printed  in  the  year  MDCCLXIV. 
(written  and  printed  by  Benjamin  Franklin). — Hist.  Soc.  Lib. 

Of  these  Indians,  in  the  year  1764,  but  twenty  remained,  of  these  one  Shehaw 
was  a  very  old  man,  having  assisted  at  the  second  treaty  held  with  them  by  William 
Penn  in  1701. — Il>.  [4.] 


6i 

•Government  of  this  Province.  Item,  that  none  of  the 
said  Indians  shall  at  any  time  be  Aiding,  Assisting,  or 
Abetting  to  any  other  Nation,  whether  of  Indians  or 
others  that  shall  not  at  such  time  be  in  Amity  with  the 
said  Crown  of  England  &  of  this  Government.  Item, 
that  if  at  any  time  any  of  the  Indians,  by  means  of  Evil 
minded  Persons  &  Sowers  of  Sedition  should  hear  any 
unkind  or  Disadvantageous  Reports  of  the  English  as 
if  they  had  Evil  Designs  agst.  any  of  the  said  Indians, 
in  such  case  such  Indians  shall  send  notice  thereof  to 
the  said  William  Penn,  his  heirs  or  successors,  or  their 
Lieutenants,  and  shall  not  give  Credence  to  the  said 
Reports,  till  by  that  means  they  shall  be  fully  satisfied 
concerning  the  Truth  thereof,  and  that  the  said  William 
Penn,  his  heirs  and  successors  or  their  Lieutenants  shall 
at  all  times  in  such  cases  do  the  Like  by  them.  Item, 
that  the  said  Kings  &  Chiefs  &  their  successors  & 
People,  shall  not  suffer  any  strange  Nation  of  Indians  to 
settle  or  plant  on  the  further  side  of  Susquehannah,  or 
about  Potomock  River,  but  such  as  are  there  already 
seated,  nor  bring  any  other  Indians  into  any  part  of  this 
Province,  without  the  special  Approbation  &  Permis- 
sion of  the  said  William  Penn,  his  heirs  &  successors. 

Item,  That  for  the  prevention  of  Abuses  that  are  too 
frequently  put  upon  the  said  Indians  in  trade  ;  that  the 
said  William  Penn,  his  heirs  &  Successors,  shall  not 
suffer  or  permit  any  Person  to  trade  or  commerce  with 
any  of  the  said  Indians,  but  such  as  shall  be  first  allowed 


62 

or  approved  of  by  an  Instrument  under  the  hand  & 
seal  of  him,  the  said  William  Penn,  or  his  heirs,  or  Suc- 
cessors, or  their  Lieutenants,  and.  that  the  said  Indians 
shall  suffer  no  Person  whatsoever  to  buy  or  sell  or  have 
commerce  with  any  of  them  the  said  Indians,  but  such 
as  shall  first  be  approved  as  aforesaid. 

Item,  that  the  said  Indians  shall  not  Sell  or  Dispose 
of  any  of  their  Skins,  Peltry  or  Furs,  or  any  other  Ef- 
fects of  their  hunting,  to  any  Person  or  Persons  what- 
soever out  of  the  Province,  nor  to  any  other  Person  but 
such  as  shall  be  authorized  to  trade  with  them  as  afore- 
said, and  that  for  their  Encouragement  the  said  William 
Penn,  his  heirs  &  Successors,  shall  take  care  to  have 
them  the  said  Indians,  duly  furnished  with  all  sorts  of 
necessary  goods  for  their  use  at  Reasonable  Rates. 

Item,  that  the  Potomock  Indians  aforesaid,  with  their 
Colony,  shall  have  free  leave  of  the  said  William  Penn, 
to  settle  upon  any  part  of  Potomock  River  within  the 
Bounds  of  this  Province,  they  strictly  observing  & 
practising  all  &  singular  the  Articles  aforesaid,  to  them 
relating. 

Item,  the  Indians  of  Conestogoe  and  upon  and  about 
the  River  Susquehannah,  and  more  especially  the  said 
Connoodaghtah  their  King,  doth  fully  agree  to,  and  by 
these  presents  absolutely  Ratifie  the  Bargain  &  Sale  of 
Land  lying  near  &  about  the  said  River  formerly  made 
o  the  said  William  Penn,  his  heirs  &  Successors,  and 
since  by  Orytyagh  &  Andaggy-junkquagh,  parties  to 


63 

these  presents  confirmed  to  the  said  William  Penn, 
his  heirs  &  Successors,  by  a  Deed  bearing  date  the 
thirteenth  day  of  September  last,  under  their  hands  & 
Seals,  duly  Executed  ;  and  the  said  Connoodaghtah  doth 
for  himself  and  his  Nation,  covenant  and  agree  that  he 
will  at  all  times  be  ready  further  to  confirm  and  make 
good  the  said  Sale  according  to  the  Tenourof  the  same, 
and  that  the  said  Indians  of  Susquehannah  shall  answer 
to  the  said  William  Penn,  his  heirs  &  Successors,  for  the 
good  Behaviour  and  Conduct  of  the  said  Potomock  In- 
dians, and  for  their  performance  of  the  several  Articles 
herein  expressed. 

Item,  the  said  William  Penn  doth  hereby  promise  for 
himself,  his  heirs  &  Successors,  that  he  and  they  will  at 
br™hef!-lends  and  all  times  show  themselves  true  Friends  and 
Brothers,  to  all  &  every  of  the  said  Indians,  by  assisting 
them  with  the  best  of  their  Advices,  Directions,  & 
Councils,  and  will  in  all  things  Just  and  Reasonable 
Befriend  them,  they  behaving  themselves  as  aforesaid, 
and  submitting  to  the  Laws  of  this  Province  in  all  things 
as  the  English  and  other  Christians  therein  Doe,  to 
which  they  the  said  Indians  hereby  agree  and  obliedge 
themselves  and  their  Posterity  for  ever.  In  Witnesse 
whereof  the  said  Parties  have,  as  a  Confirmation,  made 
mutual  Presents  to  each  other ;  the  Indians  in  five  Par- 
cells  of  Skins,  and  the  said  William  Penn  in  several 
English  Goods  and  Merchandize,  as  a  binding  pledge 
of  the  premises,  never  to  be  Broken  or  Violated,  and  as 


64 

a  further  Testimony  thereof,  have  also  to  these  presents 
Interchangeably  sett  their  hands  and  seals  the  Day  and 
Year  above  written : 

Connoodaghtah,  [L.  s.]         Wopaththa,  [L.  s.] 

Andaggy-junkquagh,  [L.  s.]         Ahookassoough,  [L.  s.] 

Penroyajooagh,  [L.  s.j         Takyewsan,  [L.  s.] 

Cheequittagh,  [L.  s.]          Koqueeash,  [L.  s.J 

Widaagh,  Lernoytung,          [L.  s.] 

als.  Weewhinjough,     [L.  s.j 

Orytyagh  [L.  s.]         Woapatkoa,  [L  s.] 

Signed,  Sealed  &  Delivered  In  the  presence  of 
Edward  Shippen,  John  Sanders, 

Nathan  Stanbury,  his 

Alaxander  Paxton,  Penroquenichchan,   X 

Caleb  Pusey,  mark 

James  Streater,  his 

J.  Le  Tort,  Passaquessay,  ^ 

Jut  Hans  Stellman,  mark 

James  Logan,  his 

Indian  Harry,  alias  Showydoohungh,  Interpreter,      X 


mark 


On  the  occasion  of  the  ratification   of  this  treaty  in 
1735   Thomas   Penn   said:  And  you   also  see  that  the 
great  Treaty  of  Friendship  then  made,  was  not  for  three „ 
Generations  only  but  forever,  that  is  as  long  as  the  Sun 
&  Moon  shall   endure,  or  Water  to  flow  in   the  Rivers 


65 

which  is  the  Language  that  has  always  been  used  on 
THIS  writing  also  these  Occasions.  And  as  you  now  see  this, 

preserved  by  the  f    • 

and  have  one  of  the  Writings  in  your  own 
hands,  you  should  always,  in  some  Number  of  years,  get 
some  honest  English  Man  to  read  that  Paper  to  you, 
that  the  Contents  of  it  may  be  kept  in  Remembrance. 

These  Articles  you  see  were  made  principally  with  the 
Susquehannah  Indians,  who  then  mostly  lived  at  Conest- 
ogoe :  And  the  Shawanese,  as  their  friends,  came  also, 
under  our  Father's  Protection,  and  entered  into  the  same 
League.  It  were  to  be  wished  that  their  whole  Nation 
were  made  sensible  of  this,  and  those  of  that  Nation 
who  were  now  here  are  desired  very  carefully  to  ac- 
quaint the  rest  with  what  they  have  seen  &  heard  here. 
And  now  on  And  now  on  these  heads  there  remains  no 

these  heads  there 

remains  no  more.  mOre,  that  we  should  here  most  solemnly 
Ratify  &  Confirm  all  these  Articles  so  far  as  they  relate 
to  Friendship  and  Union,  to  be  observed  not  only  by  us 
but  our  Posterity  to  all  Generations. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  Council  the  governor  pre- 
sented a  large  belt  of  Wampum. —  Col.  Rec.,  Vol.  III., 
pages  654-5. 

The  following  presents  were  brought  by  the  Indians  : 

107  Fall  Deer  skins  at  1-9  each  £  9-7-3 

21  Ordinary  "    I         "  i.i.o 

35  Indian  Brest  "   3-6     "  6.2.6 

4  Raccoons  "    1-6     "  0.6.0 

2  Bear  skins  "    4         '*  0.8.0 

17-4-9 


66 

And  the  following  goods  valued  at  ^30  were  procured 
for  and  presented  to  them  : 

4  fine  guns  20  pounds  powder 

8  Shawls  40  pounds  lead 

8  Blankets  30  Knives 

8  Shirts  50  Flints 

4  Hats 

with  some  rum,  pipes,  tobacco,  and  bread,  which  the  Indians  received  with  great 
thankfulness,  together  with  the  charges  of  their  entertainment  provided  by  the  Pro- 
prietary's treasurer. 


With  this  we  close  the  citations  confirmatory  of  the 
first  treaty  with  the  Indians — the  establishment  of  a 
lasting  confidence  and  unity  of  interest  which  was  a 
chief  object  of  his  coming ;  and  to  which  the  land 
purchases  were  subsidiary. 

These  citations  from  letters,  councils,  proclamations, 
and  other  writings  establish  the  fact  that  there  was 
executed  by  the  Founder  at  his  first  coming  in  1682  a 
great  Treaty  of  Amity  with  the  Indian  tribes  ;  and  that 
at  his  second  coming  in  pursuance  of  the  same  purpose 
he  entered  into  a  second  great  Treaty  of  Amity. 

That  both  treaties  were  committed  to  writing  in  a 
formal  manner ;  that  the  chief  heads  of  the  first  treaty 
and  the  whole  body  of  the  writing  of  the  second  are 
still  extant  in  our  colonial  records,  and  that  these 
treaties  were  renewed  from  time  to  time  by  his  sons 
and  governors. 


67 

The  policy  then  inaugurated  has  never  been  departed 
from  by  our  State. 

Through  that  policy  the  hand  of  violence  against  the 
Indian  has  been  stayed,  and  the  chain  brightened  and 
kept  clean  and  without  rust  even  to  these  years. 

It  is  therefore  that  the  Founder  has  received  homage 
from  men  of  all  opinions — and  that  that  first  treaty — 
renewed  and  confirmed  by  himself,  his  sons  and 
his  governors  from  year  to  year  and  made  part  of  the 
very  structure  of  our  State,  still  survives,  and  will  for- 
ever live  in  the  world's  common  memory. 


THE  TRADITION  AMONG  THE   INDIANS. 


||)ETWEEN  the  years  1770  and  1780,  they  could 
relate  very  minutely  what  had  passed  between 
William  Penn  and  their  forefathers,  at  their  first 
meeting  and  afterwards,  and  also  the  transactions 


which  took  place  with  the  governors  who  succeeded 
him. — Heckewelder,  p.  107. 

In  the  year  1781  there  were  still  some  very  aged 
Indians  living  on  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum  who  were 
present  when  the  first  houses  were  built  in  Philadelphia. 
They  related  that  the  white  people  treated  them  with 
the  greatest  kindness,  so  that  they  appeared  to  be  but 
one  nation. — Loskiel  La  Trade,  p.  i.,  Ch.  X.,  p.  124. 

Thus  we  find  that  the  lapse  of  one  hundred  years  had 

(68) 


69 

not  obliterated  in  the  minds  of  the  Indians  the  tender 
feelings  which  the  kindness  and  upright  conduct  of  their 
brother  Mignon  (so  the  Delawares  called  William  Penn) 
had  inspired,  and,  no  doubt,  in  the  dreary  solitudes  be- 
yond the  Mississippi,  to  which  their  miserable  remnants 
have  been  driven  by  a  policy  to  which  history  will  give 
its  true  name,  those  poor  exiles  from  the  land  of  their 
ancestors  still  teach  their  children  to  lisp  the  name  of 


their  friend  Mignon,  with  far  different  feelings  from 
those  with  which  they  refer  to  names  of  more  modern 
date.—//.  M.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  P.  II.,  p.  148. 

And  still  he  has  not  forgotten  the  great  treaty,  and 
among  the  scattered  remnants  of  those  once  powerful 
tribes,  now  seated  by  the  clear  lakes  of  Canada  or  wan- 
dering on  the  banks  of  the  turbid  Missouri,  the  name 
of  the  great  and  the  good  Onas  continues  to  be  held  in 
grateful  remembrance. — Janney,  p.  209. 


THE    STATEMENTS    OF    THE    WRITERS    AS    TO    THE 
TREATY    ARE    AS    FOLLOWS 

PLDMIXON.— "The  British  Empire  in  America," 
was  written  about  twenty-five  years  after  the  first 
arrival  of  William  Penn  in  this  country.  In  it  he  states 
that  "the  proprietary,  upon  his  arrival  in  his  Colony, 
entered  into  treaties  with  the  Indians  to  buy  lands." 
Afterwards,  however,  speaking  of  Penn's  removal  to 
England,  in  1684,  he  particularly  mentions  the  treaties 
of  friendship  that  he  made  with  the  Aborigines.  Mr. 
Penn,  he  says,  stayed  in  Pennsylvania  two  years,  and 
having  made  a  league  of  amity  with  nineteen  Indian 
nations,  between  them  and  all  the  English  in  America; 
having  established  good  laws,  he  returned  to  England. 
—  Oldmixon,  1708,  London,  p.  171. 

PROUD. — Mr.  Proud's  history  of  Pennsylvania  was 
published  in  the  year  1797.  In  it  he  mentions  the  pur- 
chases of  land  by  William  Penn,  but  after  having  spoken 
of  these,  he  writes:  "It  was  at  this  time  (1682)  when  he 
(William  Penn)  first  entered  personally  into  that  lasting 
friendship  with  the  Indians,  which  ever  after  continued 
between  them. 

"Again  he  says  a  firm  peace  was  thereupon  concluded 

(7°) 


between  William  Penn  and  the  Indians,  and  both  parties 
mutually  promised  to  live  together  as  brethren,  without 
doing  the  least  injury  to  each  other.  This  treaty  was 
solemnly  ratified  by  the  mutual  token  of  a  chain  of 
friendship,  a  covenant  indelible,  never  to  be  broken  as 
long  as  the  sun  and  moon  endure." — Fraud's  History, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  212. 

GORDON  finally  writes  in  his  history  it  has  been  doubted 
whether  the  conference  between  William  Penn  and  the 
Indians  was  holden  under  the  great  Elm  at  Shackamaxon, 
and  whether  it  was  accompanied  by  a  formal  treaty.  If 
we  suffer  ourselves  to  doubt  these  facts,  historical  tradi- 
tion is  unworthy  of  acceptance,  and  little  credence  can 
be  given  to  ordinary  historical  testimony. —  Gordon's 
Pennsylvania,  p.  603. 

RAYNAL. — The  Abbe  Raynal,  in  his  Continent  embrac- 
ing work,  wrote:  "He  (William  Penn)  signalized  his 
arrival  by  an  act  of  equity  by  which  he  endeared  his 
person  and  made  his  principles  acceptable." — Raynafs 
Hist.  Philos. 

VOLTAIRE. — Voltaire,  who  was  without  faith  in  any- 
thing human  or  divine  save  Pennsylvania  and  the  pur- 
poses of  its  founder,  gave  in  his  credence  by  the  yet 
more  often  quoted  passage  : 

"The  only  treaty  which  has  not  been  sworn  to,  and 
which  has  not  been  broken."  It  appears  in  every  notice 
of  the  Founder's  life.  The  whole  passage  reads :  "  He 
began  by  making  a  league  with  the  American  Indians 


which  were  his  neighbors.  This  is  the  only  treaty  be- 
tween those  persons  and  the  Christians  which  has  not 
been  sworn  to,  and  which  has  not  been  broken." 

"C'est  le  seul  traite  entre  ces  peuples  et  les  Chretiens 
qui  n'ait  point  ete  jure  et  qui  n'ait  point  ete  rompu." — 
Diet.  Philos.,  7,  17-18. 

ARMISTEAD,  who  drew  from  original  sources,  repeats 
the  story.  "In  1682  Penn  first  entered  into  that  lasting 
friendship  with  the  Indians  which  ever  afterwards  con- 
tinued between  them." — Armistead's  Life  of  James  Logan, 

p.  85. 

The  fact  that  a  treaty  at  his  first  coming  was  made, 
was  committed  to  writing  kept  for  many  years,  and  cited 
again  and  again  by  its  heads,  having  been  established 
by  these  records  with  the  concurrence  of  all  who  have 
written  upon  it,  without  any  exception ;  there  only  re- 
mains the  question  of  the  place,  the  season,  and  the  year 
in  which  it  was  held,  and  the  attending  circumstances; 
these  rest  on  tradition,  but  tradition  of  the  most  reliable 
character,  both  in  certainty  of  statement  and  the  persons 
by  whom  it  was  made. 

This  is  fortified  by  its  acceptance  by  historians  of  the 
highest  reliability,  and  by  the  patient  researches  of  the 
Historical  Society  of  the  State,  where  it  was  alleged  to 
have  taken  place,  on  two  occasions,  in  which  all  that 
then  existed  was  examined,  and  the  conclusion  reached 
to  which  this  writer  has  also  come. 

THE  PLACF  OF  THE  TREATY. — But  it  is  almost  indis- 


73 

putably  probable,  said  the  venerable  Judge  Peters,  if  gen- 
eral tradition  did  not  confirm  the  fact,  that  William  Penn 
chose  to  hold  this  treaty  beyond  the  reach  of  any  jealousy 
about  the  neighborhood  of  fortified  places  and  within 
the  lines  of  his  province  far  from  such  places ;  and  at  a 
spot  (Shackamaxon)  which  had  been  an  Indian  settlement 
familiar  to  and  esteemed  by  the  natives,  and  where 
neither  Dutch  nor  Swedes  could  be  supposed  to  have 
influence,  for  with  them  the  Indians  had  bickerings. 
This  view  of  the  subject  gives  the  strongest  confirma- 
tion to  the  tradition  of  the  Treaty  being  held  at  Kensing- 
ton.1 

Shackamaxon  was  a  place  of  resort  for  the  Indians  of 
different  Nations,  no  doubt  to  consult  together  and  settle 
their  mutual  concerns,  and  while  it  comes  in  aid  of  our 
etymology  of  that  name,  it  accounts  for  its  having  been 
chosen  by  Markham  and  William  Penn  after  him,  as  the 
place  for  holding  their  successive  treaties.  It  adds  also 
no  little  importance  to  the  locality  of  the  great  treaty 
under  the  Elm  Tree.2 

The  tradition  rests  on  the  following  direct  testimony, 
says  Judge  Peters.  I  have  always  understood  and  be- 
lieved that  the  treaty  in  1682  was  held  at  Shackamaxon. 
When  a  boy  I  have  resorted  to  the  great  Elm  Tree,  and 
have  always  confided  in  the  then  uncontradicted  tradi- 
tion that  under  that  tree  the  treaty  was  held.  The  place 
had  been  an  Indian  Village  57  years  ago. 

1  Richard  Peters  to  Roberts  Vaux,  Belmont,  Sep.  6,  1825. 

2  Mem.  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  2,  p.  184. 


74 

Both  David  Conyngham  and  myself  remember  when 
boys,  bathing  on  the  sandy  beach  near  the  famous  Elm. 
No  person  then  disputed  the  fact  that  this  Elm  was  the 
tree  under  which  Penn's  treaty  was  held.  Mr.  Conyng- 
ham remembers  distinctly,  the  friendly  visitation  of 
Benjamin  Lay  to  the  scene  of  our  sports.  He  must 
have  been  known  to  some  of  the  contemporaries  of 
Penn.  After  dilating  on  the  worth  and  virtues  of  that 
good  man,  and  particularly  as  they  applied  to  the  treat- 
ment of  the  natives,  he  would  call  on  the  boys ;  point 
out  the  Elm  Tree  and  enjoin  on  them  to  bear  in  mind, 
and  teach  to  their  children  that  under  that  tree  Penn's 
treaty  was  held  and  they  should  respect  it  accordingly. 

Strength  is  added  to  this  by  the  general  acceptance 
of  the  tradition,  so  that  during  the  revolutionary  war  the 
British  General  Simcoe,  who  was  quartered  at  Kensing 
ton  so  regarded  it  that  whilst  his  soldiers  were  felling 
the  trees  of  the  vicinity  for  fuel,  he  placed  a  sentinel 
under  this  tree  that  not  a  branch  of  it  might  be  touched. 
Statement  by  General  Simcoe  to  Sir  B.  West. — Memoirs 
of  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  1825,  p.  97. 

That  this  treaty,  therefore,  says  the  Society,  was  held 
at  Shackamaxon  shortly  after  the  arrival  of  William  Penn 
in  1682  we  think  that  the  least  doubt  cannot  at  present 
be  entertained.2 

1  Richard  Peters,  Belmont,  November  3,  1825. 
»//.  S.  of  /'«.,  Vol.  VI..  p.  94. 


75 

THE  SEASON  OF  THE  YEAR. — As  to  this  the  Society  says : 
We  consider  ourselves  at  liberty  to  fix  the  epoch  of 
the  great  treaty  at  such  time  as  we  shall  think  most  con- 
sistent with  probability,  and  we  believe  that  to  be  about 
the  latter  end  of  November.  The  season  was  then 
beautiful,  as  is  generally  the  fall  season  in  our  country. 
His  journey  lasted  about  a  month,  and  he  had  sufficient 
time  to  go  to  New  York  and  Long  Island,  visit  his 
friends  on  the  way  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey, 
and  treat  with  the  Indians  on  his  return.  On  his  de- 
parture from  New  Castle,  his  friend  Markham  had  full 
time  to  give  notice  to  the  Chiefs  to  meet  him  at  Shacka- 
maxon  ;  in  short,  by  adopting  this  period  we  find  our- 
selves free  from  the  objections  that  meet  us  at  every 
step  in  choosing  any  other.1 

THE  SPEECHES  ON  THE  OCCASION. — As  to  these  the 
Society  further  says  :  What  he  (Clarkson)  relates  of  the 
speech  of  William  Penn,  appears  to  us  conformable  to 
the  best  traditions,  and  to  agree  in  substance,  with  the 
information  that  we  have  been  able  to  collect  elsewhere, 
from  various  sources.  It  was  natural  that  he  should  ex- 
plain to  the  Indians  the  principles  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  on  the  subject  of  bearing  arms,  and  we  may  well 
suppose  that  he  began  his  speech  as  Mr.  Clarkson  relates. 
Also  that  he  should  tell  them  that  the  land  which  they 
had  sold,  or  should  sell  to  the  Whites,  was  to  be  held  in 
common  between  them,  and  that  both  nations  should  be 

1  Mem.  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  p.  2,  150,  185. 


76 

at  liberty  to  occupy  it  for  their  lawful  purposes.  It  is  en- 
tirely in  accordance  with  what  we  have  said  of  the  opin- 
ions of  the  Indians  respecting  property ;  and  that  this 
language  was  held  by  the  proprietor,  is  fully  ascertained 
by  the  speeches  of  the  Governor  of  the  Colony  and  those 
of  the  Indians  in  subsequent  treaties. — Mem.  H.  S.  of 
Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  P.  II.,  p.  166-189.  Clarksoris  Life. 

The  tradition  does  not  rest  upon  the  words  or  writings 
of  inconsiderate  men,  it  has  come  down  to  us  from  the 
lips  of  men,  one  with  whom  falsehood  was  impossible, 
another  taught  by  a  life  of  judicial  training  to  disbelieve 
except  upon  the  clearest  evidence,  another  incredulous 
from  his  nature,  another  exhaustive  in  researches,  an- 
other the  friend  and  companion  of  the  Founder;  with 
these  that  body  of  men  who  devote  their  lives  to  these 
investigations,  and  who  lived  as  it  were  on  the  very 
ground. 

THE  CONSERVATORS  of  the  tradition 

James  Logan  was  born  in  Ireland  in  1674  or  '75,  em- 
barked with  Penn  for  Pennsylvania  7th  mo.  (Sep.),  1699. 
Arrived  loth  mo.  (Dec.)  ;  when  Penn  returned  to  Eng- 
land 3rd,  9ber.,  1701,  he  then  25,  was  made  Secretary 
of  the  Province  by  Penn,  and  had  general  charge  of  the 
Government  and  property.  "I  have  left  thee,"  wrote 
Penn,  "  in  an  uncommon  trust  with  a  singular  dependence 
on  thy  justice  and  care."  He  discharged  his  duties  with 
fidelity  and  friendship  ;  he  was  long  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Province  and  held  the  Office  of  Commissioner  of  Prop- 


77 

erty.  He  was  two  years  President  of  the  Council  and 
ex-officio  Governor  of  the  Province.  In  1738  he  retired 
from  the  Presidency.  The  Indians  visited  and  sometimes 
remained  under  his  hospitality  until  his  death.  At  a 
treaty  held  with  the  Six  Nations  at  Philadelphia,  July, 
1742,  which  he  could  not  attend  by  reason  of  a  bodily 
infirmity,  they  brought  him  a  present  of  a  bundle  of 
skins,  and  Conasategos  Chief  of  the  Onondagoes  speak- 
ing for  the  chiefs,  said  of  him  to  Governor  Thomas: 
"  James  Logan  is  a  wise  man  and  a  fast  friend  of  the 
Indians,  and  we  desire  when  his  soul  goes  to  God  you 
may  choose  in  his  room  just  such  another  person."  He 
died  3 ist,  10  mo.,  1751,  act.  77.  The  Loganian  Library 
then  his  private  library  the  collection  of  50  years  was 
his  bequest  to  the  City  of  Philadelphia. — Armistead's 
Logan,  passim,  and  p.  86.  Hugh's  Penn,  p.  91. 

BENJAMIN  LAY  was  born  in  England  in  1677;  as  a 
sailor  he  voyaged  to  Syria ;  there  he  sought  out  where 
the  Saviour  conversed  with  the  woman  of  Samaria,  and 
refreshed  him  with  water  from  Jacob's  Well.  He  was 
one  of  those  men  who  come  into  the  world  exciting 
consternation  and  disquiet.  In  1718  he  was  in  business 
in  Barbadoes,  where  the  horrors  of  slavery  and  the 
hatred  of  the  owriers  of  the  slaves  forced  him  to  leave. 
He  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1731.  His  form  and 
features  were  very  ungainly,  but  his  countenance  lighted 
with  a  lofty  and  calm  benignity:  in  his  new  home  he 
fought  alone  his  solitary  idea.  His  kindly  heart  finally 


78 

breaking  down  into  misanthropy,  he  made  himself  a 
cave  near  the  city,  weaving  his  own  clothes  and  living 
on  the  fruits  of  his  orchard.  He  would  eat  no  flesh, 
and  nothing  that  came  from  the  labor  of  slaves.  So 
qualified  he  went  forth  to  preach  his  doctrine.  In  1737 
he  wrote  his  book,  "All  Slavekeepers  that  keep  the  in- 
nocent in  bondage,  apostates."  Richard  Penn  and 
Franklin  visited  him  in  his  cave,  the  latter  corresponded 
with  him  through  his  life :  he  wrote  also  for  prisoners 
and  visited  the  children  in  the  schools.  From  his  cave 
hung  down  evergreens :  it  contained  a  library  of  200 
volumes.  His  hatred  of  money  accumulation  was  ex- 
treme. These  lines  were  written  on  the  blank  leaves  of 
one  of  his  books  found  after  the  war: 

"O,  the  blessed  doctrine  and  practice  of  the  first 
Christians  which  kept  out  luxury,  pride,  and  cursed 
covetousness."  He  died  on  3rd,  2nd  Mo.  (Feb.)  1759, 
anno  aetatis  82.  He  lived  twenty-eight  years  of  his 
life  in  Pennsylvania. —  Vauxs  Life  (1815). 

BENJAMIN  WEST  was  born  at  Springfield,  Chester 
Bounty,  in  Pennsylvania,  October  10,  1738.  His  father 
was  an  English  Quaker  who  came  over  with  Penn  on 
his  second  voyage  in  1699.  He  was  taught  to  mix 
colors  by  a  party  of  Indians  who  visited  his  father's 
house.  At  nine  years  he  was  painting  portraits  of  real 
worth,  and  which,  in  his  estimation,  were  in  some 
features  of  handling  never  surpassed  by  him.  He  was 
brought  to  Philadelphia  and  studied  classical  literature 


79 

under  Dr.  Smith,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
His  reputation  finally  reached  over  all  Europe  and 
America.  The  treaty  was  an  early  production,  in  the 
opinion  of  John  Sartain,  rendered  certain  by  his  mode 
of  laying  on  the  color  which  was  abandoned  in  his  later 
years.  There  existed  an  early  picture  of  the  Treaty  by 
him  which  the  family  prized  very  highly  but  which  was 
lost.  He  therefore  a  second  time  and  on  a  large  can- 
vass determined  to  perpetuate  his  credence  in  the  tradi- 
tion.1 No  one  of  all  the  authorities  was  situated  as 
favorably  as  himself  to  know  the  verity  of  the  tradition. 
His  family,  fellow-voyagers  of  the  Founder,  Quakers 
and  residents  of  an  adjoining  county  ;  his  first  instructors, 
the  Indians  themselves  ;  his  own  residence  in  his  early 
years  in  Philadelphia,  his  associations  English ;  and  his 
second  picture  painted  for,  or  coming  into  the  possession 
of  the  Founder's  family.  With  this,  his  entire  credibility. 
He  was  unmoved  by  the  applause  of  the  world  or  the 

1  Hall's  engraving  of  the  second  picture,  now  in  the  Museum,  Philadelphia,  the 
gift  of  the  late  Joseph  Harrison's  family,  was  made  prior  to  1775. — Encyc,  West 
Edinb.  Encyc.  West. 

A  letter  to  the  Rev.  William  Smith,  Stoke,  May  30,  1775,  by  Juliana  Penn,  wife 
of  the  Governor,  John  Penn,  states : 

"  I  can  send  nothing  from  here  but  which  some  friend  will  take  privately,  which 
prevents  me  sending  at  the  same  time  a  print  from  a  painting  of  Mr.  West's  on  the 
subject  of  the  settlement  of  your  province,  but  shall  take  the  first  opportunity  to  send 
you  one  of  them  likewise." — Rev.  William  Smith's  Life  and  Correspondence,  Vol. 

I-  P-  503- 

Mr.  Clarkson,  who  wrote  the  biography  of  William  Penn,  in  1813,  told  J.  Francis 
Fisher,  of  Philadelphia,  that  he  was  indebted  for  his  information  on  the  subject  of 
this  Treaty  to  our  celebrated  painter,  Benjamin  West. — Hist.  Trans.  A.  P.  S.  176. 


8o 

smiles  of  the  great,  and  there  was  not  in  all  his  life  a 
spot  or  blemish  on  his  character.  He  died  March, 
1820,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Paul's,  London. 

JOHN  OLDMIXON  was  born  in  1673;  of  him  Macaulay 
says,  what  certainly  applies  to  that  writer  in  equal 
measure,  "  His  assertions  unsupported  by  evidence  are 
of  no  weight  whatever."  "  The  British  Empire  "  was 
published  in  1 708.  The  writer  was  contemporaneous 
with  the  Founder,  and  his  assertions  as  to  the  Treaty 
were  very  probably  supported  by  the  Founder :  much 
of  his  information  he  alleges  came  from  Penn  himself, 
and,  unlike  the  assertions  of  the  other,  is  supported  by 
the  Founder's  whole  life  and  character. 

RICHARD  PETERS  was  born  at  Belmont,  now  in  the 
Park  of  Philadelphia,  in  1 744.  He  was  the  nephew  of 
Richar^l  Peters  who  was  Secretary  of  the  land  office  in 
the  years  1737  to  1747.  He  filled  the  office  of  Secre- 
tary of  the  Board  of  War  during  the  Revolution;  was 
a  representative  in  Congress,  and  was  a  Judge  of  the 
United  States  District  Court  thirty-nine  years.  He  died 
August  22,  1828,  aet.  84. 

SAMUEL  BRECK  was  born  in  Boston,  July  17,  1771; 
lived  at  Sweet  Briar,  now  in  the  Park  of  Philadelphia, 
thirty-eight  years.  He  was  four  years  a  State  Senator, 
where  he  made  his  name  memorable  by  his  bill  for  the 
final  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  Pennsylvania.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  i8th  Congress,  and  again  served 
in  the  State  Senate,  when  he  drew  the  bill  to  establish 


8i 

the  Common  School  System  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Institution  for  the  Blind  in 
Philadelphia ;  he  lived  through  every  event  in  the  foun 
dation  of  our  National  Government  from  the  first  battle 
for  our  independence,  which  he  witnessed,  a  child  in  his 
nurse's  arms,  and  through  the  first  seventy  battles  of  the 
war  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.  His  last  words 
were:  "What  of  my  Country?"  He  died  August  22, 
1862. 

The  writers  also  remain  accredited  and  standard  to 
this  day. 

ROBERT  PROUD  was  born  May  10,  1728  ;  he  was  closely 
associated  with  the  Friends  as  a  teacher  of  their  chil- 
dren :  his  work  was  commenced  in  1791  ;  its  merit  is  in 
the  value  and  reliability  of  its  material,  and  the  honesty 
of  the  chronicler.  He  came  from  England  and  got  to- 
Philadelphia  January  6,  1759.  He  died  7th  of  July, 
1813,  aged  eighty-six  years.  He  was  a  quaint  but  reli- 
able relic  of  the  old  rule,  wearing  a  curled  gray  wig, 
cocked  patriarchal  hat,  and  long  ivory-headed  cane  ;  he 
was  in  person  tall,  with  a  great  Roman  nose  extending 
out  from  under  a  most  impending  brow.  He  began  his 
work  in  1791,  when  the  remembrance  of  the  story  of  the 
event  was  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  living  genera- 
tion who  had  heard  it  from  their  fathers. 

THE  ABBE  RAYNAL'S  Histoire  Philosophique  et  poli- 
tique  appeared  in  1770  in  4  volumes ;  it  was  reprinted 
in  20  successive  editions  to  1820,  when  it  appeared  in 

6 


(82) 


83 

the  Paris  edition  of  12  volumes.  It  has  been  translated 
into  all  the  languages  of  modern  literature,  assailed, 
approved,  condemned,  criticized,  annotated,  illustrated 
in  almost  every  mode  possible  to  literature,  yet  I  can 
find,  in  no  accessible  volume  of  these,  in  our  own  libraries 
any  attack  on  the  credibility  of  his  statement  relating  to 
the  treaty ;  in  his  estimation  it  stands  the  sole  relief 
in  modern  civilization's  black  horrors  of  crimes ;  yet  its 
credibility  remains  unassailed  by  the  regiments  of 
volumes  of  criticism  against  every  other  part  of  his  work, 
speaking  all  the  languages  of  modern  times. 

GUILLAUME  THOMAS  RAYNAL  was  born  in  1711,  and  died 
March  6th,  1 796 ;  the  generation  following  the  founder. 

THOMAS  CLARKSON,  the  Biographer  of  the  Founder, 
was  one  of  that  despised  band  of  men  who  a  hundred 
years  later  trod  in  the  footsteps  of  his  pacific  intentions 
to  the  human  race ;  and  like  the  Founder  was  a  man  of 
great  determination  and  ceaseless  endeavor.  His  life 
consumed  itself  in  one  object ;  his  first  writings  and  his 
last  were  for  the  deliverance  of  the  negro  slaves.  In 
i  785  he  took  the  first  prize  among  the  senior  bachelors 
of  the  University  of  Cambridge  as  a  Latin  essayist ; 
his  subject  was  An  ne  liceat  invitos  in  servitute  dare  (Is 
it  right  to  make  Men  slaves  against  their  will1).  He 

1  In  the  preface  to  the  English  translation  of  his  first  essay  he  refers  to  Las  Casas 
as  the  first  of  those  who  humanely  exerted  themselves  to  abolish  Indian  slavery  in 
the  Western  colonies,  and  says  this  amiable  man  was  so  sensibly  affected  at  the  treat- 
ment which  the  miserable  Indians  underwent,  that  he  made  a  remonstrance  before 
the  celebrated  Emperor  Charles  the  V.,  declaring  that  heaven  would  one  day  call  him 
to  account  for  those  cruelties.  An  Essay  by  T.  Clarkson,  Phila.,  1810,  p.  iii-vii. 


84 

wrote  continuously  on  this  single  theme,  first  a  transla- 
tion of  this  essay  &  other  essays  in  1783-87-89-91- 
1807,  and  other  indefatigable  work  until  slavery  was 
abolished  in  the  British  Empire.  He  then  sought  to 
make  the  objects  of  the  Founder,  of  which  this  was  one, 
&  which  he  understood  &  lived  so  thoroughly,  as  well 
understood  by  others;  he  wrote  for  this  purpose  his 
portraiture  of  quakerism  in  1809;  and  he  crowned  his 
literary  career  with  "The  public  and  private  life  of  Wil- 
liam Penn,"  in  1813;  it  is  in  this  work  he  wrote  the 
description  of  "  The  Treaty "  which  is  made  almost 
impregnable  by  the  documents  cited  in  this  Volume.  It 
is  most  evident  that  there  must  have  existed  at  some 
time  in  the  West  or  other  quaker  family  of  Pennsylvania' 
a  written  account  of  the  treaty  and  the  speeches  on  the 
occasion  ;  the  verification  of  the  incidents  and  language 
as  given  to  Clarkson  being  so  exactly  maintained  by 
the  documents  now  in  our  possession  but  inaccessible 
to  either  West  or  himself;  except  the  reference  to  the 
laying  the  parchment  on  the  ground  which  did  occur 
later  in  the  purchase  of  the  Conestogoes'  title  and  proba- 
bly also  the  casting  down  their  arms,  there  is  everything 
confirmatory  of  the  action  and  even  the  language  used. 
In  the  memoirs  of  William  Penn  he  spared  no  pains  nor 
labor  to  inform  himself  of  every  circumstance  relative  to 
Penn,  whether  contained  in  well  known  or  obscure  works 
(Lond.  Eclec.  Review}.  He  performed  his  undertaking 
with  the  zeal  of  an  affectionate  admirer  and  with  taste, 


85 

judgment  and  accuracy  (London  Chris.  Adv.]  Few 
men  of  far  reaching  intentions  have  attained  the  goal  for 
which  they  set  out  in  their  lives ;  it  was  otherwise  with 
this  good  as  well  as  illustrious  man ;  he  lived  to  see  the 
heavily  burthened,  overtaxed  people  of  England  in  the 
most  honourable  manner,  and  in  the  most  strict  con- 
formity with  the  founder's  example  purchase  the  slaves 
of  the  British  colonies  at  a  fair  valuation — a  title  of  a 
more  baseless  character  than  that  of  the  aborigines, 
and  which  this  Country  considered  of  as  little  value  and 
finally  settled  in  the  same  manner  as  they  had  done 
the  English  titles  themselves. 

He  was  born  on  the  28th  March,  1760,  and  died  in 
1846,  aged  86  years. 


86 


this  weight  of  testimony  the  only  answer  has  been 
the  silence  about  the  treaty  at  the  time,  and  this 
equally  applies  to  all  the  leagues  of  amity  then  and  there- 
after made,  but  to  this  the  answer  with  which  we  conclude  ; 
what  most  distinguishes  such  characters  as  the  founder, 
in  the  eyes  of  posterity,  seems  the  least  worthy  of  record 
to  them  in  their  lives  or  in  the  opinion  of  their  con- 
temporaries. Sales  of  lands,  exchanges  of  trade  and 
other  matters  having  present  interest,  and  use,  create 
their  certain  records  everywhere ;  events  that  change 
the  destinies  of  after  ages,  are  without  present  value, 
and  gain  them  real  importance  only  in  the  later  ages 
when  the  results  of  these  events,  eventuate.  Sentiments 
do  not  get  into  the  statutes  of  legislatures,  unless  they  are 
written  at  the  time  with  a  sword. 

It  is  therefore  that  they  endure  the  longer ;  the  records 
of  trade  perish  with  its  merchandise ;  the  work  of  the 
sword  rusts  away  with  the  sword ;  these  wiser,  kindlier 
purposes  survive  the  grave  itself,  which  consumes  all 
else. 

This  tradition  is  as  the  tree  was  with  which  it  is  associ- 
ated ;  time  which  gave  it  strength  and  value  was  power- 
less to  change  its  form  and  character,  or  excise  its  be- 
ginning from  the  place  where  it  took  root  in  the  credence 
of  our  forefathers  ;  its  existence  there,  in  their  lives,  was 
the  unanswerable  argument  of  its  past  existence  there. 


and  the  concentric  rings  within  its  core  did  not  count 
backward  more  certainly,  than  the  tradition  itself  does, 
to  the  very  year  when  the  bounteous  shoot  from  which 
it  grew  to  be  the  glory  of  our  State,  was  set  there  by 
the  pious  hand  of  our  founder. 


THE   TREATY  TREE. 

"  Tho'  time  has  devoted  our  tree  to  decay, 
The  sag»i  lessons  it  witness'd  survive  to  our  day. 
May  our  trustworthy  statesmen  when  called  to  the  helm, 
Ne'er  forget  the  wise  treaty  held  under  our  Elm." — RICHARD  PETERS. 

Qv, 

JILT  fell  during  a  storm  on  the  night  of  the  5th  of  March, 
©*  1810.  "After  a  blow  from  the  northeast  on  Mon- 
day last  (5th)  about  1 1  o'clock  at  night  the  wind  shifted 
to  the  west  and  blew  a  tremendous  gale  the  whole  night. 
A  great  number  of  trees  in  and  about  the  city  were 
blown  up  by  the  roots  as  was  also  the  large  tree  at 
Kensington,  under  which  William  Penn,  the  founder  of 
Pennsylvania,  signed  his  first  treaty  with  the  Aborigines. 
This  noted  tree  having  stood  the  blasts  of  a  hundred  or 
more  winters  since  that  event,  has  at  last  crumbled  to 
the  dust.  'True  American,'  copied  into  the  Register, 
March  7th,  iSic  (Wednesday).  After  the  tree  was  up- 
rooted it  measured  24  feet  in  circumference."1 

"  The  circles  of  annual  growth  which  its  trunk  exhib- 
ited, then  indicated  an  age  of  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  years."2 

*H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  96. 
/.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  240. 

(88) 


89 

"  Samuel  Breck  visited  it  as  it  lay  in  ruins,  and  took 
from  it  a  limb,  which  he  gave  to  Captain  Watson,  of  the 
British  Navy,  to  deposit  it  in  the  Museum  of  Exeter,  in 
England."1 

After  its  fall  in  a  more  unpoetical,  but  more  substan- 
tial manner  than  the  ashes  of  Wickliffe,  it  passed  away 
from  the  Delaware  to  the  ocean,  and  has  been  distributed 
in  canes,  boxes,  desks  and  all  manner  of  other  forms  to 
other  countries. 

On  the  occasion  of  Lafayette's  visit  (1824-5)  John  F. 
Watson  presented  him  with  a  box  composed  of  pieces 
of  wood  among  which  was  a  piece  of  the  Treaty  Elm  ; 
"  a  branch  of  the  old  tree  was  then  growing  in  the 
garden  of  the  hospital  under  which  our  fellow-citizens 
delighted  to  recount  the  story  of  its  origin  while  pro- 
tected by  its  shade."2  One  stood  in  the  centre  of 
Clinton  street  near  Ninth,  in  Mr.  Armstrong's  memory. 
A  large  piece  was  sent  to  John  Penn  of  Stoke  Park, 
England,  on  which  he  had  inscribed  :  "A  remnant  of  the 
great  Elm  Tree  under  which  the  treaty  was  held  be- 
tween William  Penn  and  the  Indians  soon  after  his  land- 
ing in  America,  in  1682,  and  which  grew  at  Kensington, 
near  Philadelphia,  till  the  autumn  of  the  year  1810,  when 
it  fell  during  a  storm  :  was  presented  to  his  grandson, 
John  Penn."3 

1  Samuel  Breck,  Mem.  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  213. 
*Ltvasstur's  Lafayette,  Vol.  II.,  p.  232. 
^Hugh's  Penn,  p.  95. 


9o 

Dr.  Rush  had  an  arm-chair  made  from  the  wood  of 
the  then  far-famed  Elm  Tree,  and  sent  an  ink-stand  made 
of  it  to  Dr.  Roscoe,  of  Liverpool.1 

On  receiving  from  Dr.  Rush,  this  piece  of  the  tree 
under  which  William  Penn  made  his  Treaty  with  the 
Indians,  he  wrote  the  following  lines : 

"  From  clime  to  clime,  from  shore  to  shore, 

The  War  fiend  raised  his  horrid  yell, 
And  midst  the  storm  which  realms  deplore, 
Penn's  honored  tree  of  Concord  fell. 

"And  of  that  tree  that  ne'er  again 

Shall  Spring's  reviving  influence  know, 
A  relic  o'er  the  Atlantic  main 
Was  sent,  the  gift  of  foe  to  foe.2 

"  But  though  no  more  i^s  ample  shades 

Wave  green  beneath  Columbia's  sky, 
Though  every  branch  be  now  decayed, 
And  all  its  scattered  leaves  be  dry, 

"  Yet  midst  the  relic's  sainted  space, 

A  health-restoring  flood  shall  spring, 
In  which  the  angel  form  of  peace 

May  stoop  to  dip  her  dove-like  wing. 

"  So  once  that  staff  the  prophet  bore, 

By  wondering  eyes  again  was  seen 

To  swell  with  life  through  every  pore, 

And  bud  afresh  with  foliage  green. 

"The  withered  branch  again  shall  grow, 
Till  o'er  the  earth  its  shade  extend  ; 
And  this,  the  gift  of  foe  to  foe, 

Becomes  the  gift  of  friend  to  friend. 

l  Wakefielcfs  Penn.     Preface. 

1  Alluding  to  the  slate  of  hostilities  between  the  two  countries  (1812). 


At  the  Anniversary  of  the  Landing  in  1824,  two  arm- 
chairs made  of  the  wood  of  the  Elm  Tree  under  which 
William  Penn  held  his  Treaty  with  the  Indians  in  1682 
were  presented  by  John  F.  Watson. 

The  centre  of  the  table  was  ornamented  with  a  model 
of  the  monument  made  by  Haviland,  of  part  of  the 
treaty  tree.1 

Thomas  Birch,  the  marine  painter,  by  whom  the  draw- 
ing of  the  treaty  tree  in  this  volume  was  made  in  1801,' 
was  the  son  of  William  Birch,  who  published  the  print ; 
he  told  John  Sartain  that  he  might  rely  on  it  that  he 
drew  the  tree  for  his  father  and  that  every  branch  and 
twig  as  he  saw  it  there,  was  delineated  by  him  in  this 
drawing.2  His  son,  the  present  Thomas  Birch,  of  Phil- 
adelphia, said  that  he  told  him  he  had  bestowed  on  the 
drawing  that  same  care  that  he  would  have  done  on  a 
portrait,  that  every  branch  and  twig  was  delineated  by 
him.3  Mr.  Birch  has  also  preserved  a  frame  made  of  the 
wood  of  the  old  tree  presented  by  Mr.  Franklin  Eyre, 
its  last  owner. 


In  1848  "the  County  Commissioners  of  Philadelphia  County  were  vested  with 
power  and  authority  to  purchase  and  hold  for  public  use  the  lot  or  piece  of  ground 
described  as  the  site  of  Penn's  Treaty  with  the  Indians  as  authorized  and  requested 
by  the  Philadelphia  County  Board  in  the  year  1848,  the  cost  not  to  exceed  the 
amount  appropriated  by  the  said  County  Board  for  the  purchase  thereof.  4 

1  Proceedings  of  the  meeting.     Franklin  Inst.  Library. 
'2  Relation  of  John  Sartain  to  the  author,  1882. 
3  Relation  of  Thomas  Birch  to  the  author,  1882. 
*  Ap.  9,  1849.     Laws  of  Pa.,  1849,  p.  540. 


In   1827  the  Penn  Society  erected  a  monument  there. 
It  bears  the  following  inscription: 


Treaty  Ground 

of 
William  Penn 

and  the 
Indian  Nations 

1682 
Unbroken  Faith. 

William  Penn 
Born  1644. 
Died  1718. 


Pennsylvania 
founded 

1681 
By  Deeds  of  Peace. 

Raised  by  the 

Penn  Society 

A.  D.  1827 

to  mark  the 

site  of  the 

Great  Elm  Tree. 


BRANCH    FROM   AN    KI.M    NOW   GROW1NCJ 
ON   THE   TREATY   GROUND. 


(93) 


THE   FOUNDER'S   WORK  AND   WORTH. 
,.   TESTIMONY  OF  FRIENDS  IN  PENNSYLVANIA  con- 

^\j 

cerning    their   deceased    friend    and    Governor, 
William  Penn. 

"  Yet  it  becomes  us  particularly  to  say,  that  as  he  was 
our  Governor,  he  merited  from  us  love  and  true  honor, 
and  we  cannot  but  have  the  same  regard  to  his  mem- 
ory, when  we  consider  the  blessings  and  ease  we  have 
enjoyed  under  his  government;  and  are  rightly  sensible 
of  his  care,  affection  and  regard,  always  shown  with 
anxious  concern  for  the  safety  and  prosperity  of  the 
people,  who  many  of  them,  removed  from  comfortable 
livings  to  be  adventurers  with  him,  not  so  much  with 
views  of  better  acquisitions,  or  greater  riches,  but  the 
laudable  prospect  of  retired,  quiet  habitations  for  them- 
selves and  posterity,  and  the  promotion  of  truth  and 
virtue  in  the  earth.  And  as  his  love  was  great  and  en- 
deavors constant  for  the  happiness  of  his  friends,  coun 
trymen  and  fellow-subjects,  so  was  his  great  tenderness, 
justice  and  love  towards  the  Indians,  from  first  to  last, 
always  conspicuous  and  remarkable. 

"  More  might  be  truly  said  of  him  as  he  was  the  pro- 
prietary and  Governor  of  this  Province;  and  we  now 

(94) 


95 

find  it  our  duty  (incited  thereto  by  the  love  of  our  Hea- 
venly Father  in  our  souls),  to  add  a  few  lines  concerning 
him,  as  he  was  our  worthy  elder,  friend  and  brother  in 
the  blessed  Truth;  many  of  us  having  been  often  com- 
forted, edified  and  solaced  with  him  in  the  enjoyment 
thereof.  As  was  his  testimony,  so  was  his  conversation, 
edifyin  and  lovely,  administering  grace  and  knowledge. 
His  behaviour  was  sweet  and  engaging,  and  his  conde- 
scension great,  even  to  the  weakest  and  meanest;  affable 
and  of  easy  access,  tender  of  every  person  and  thing 
that  had  simplicity  of  truth,  or  honesty  for  a  foundation. 
"If  William  Penn  did  not  accomplish,  in  the  settlement 
of  Pennsylvania,  all  that  his  ardent  and  comprehensive 
mind  originally  anticipated,  he  unquestionably  effected 
more  towards  establishing  the  practicability  of  support- 
ing a  government  upon  strictly  Christian  principles,  than 
ever  was  effected  by  any  other  man.  To  disarm  by 
lenient  means  the  wild  and  untutored  inhabitants  of  the 
woods;  to  obtain  possession  by  fair  and  honorable  pur- 
chase of  such  an  extensive  tract  of  country,  without  ex- 
citing a  murmur  amongst  its  original  occupants;  to  bring 
so  many  discordant  tribes  into  treaties  of  friendship  and 
peace;  and  to  establish  an  intercourse  with  them,  which 
was  maintained  on  friendly  terms  as  long  as  the  author- 
ities of  Pennsylvania  adhered  to  the  principles  of  the 
Founder,  was  certainly  to  set  an  important  example  to 
succeeding  ages.  If  we  judge  from  the  history  of  the 
early  settlers  in  New  England  and  Virginia,  we  shall 


96 

probably  adopt  the  conclusion  that  there  is  quite  as 
much  difficulty  in  maintaining  the  relations  of  peace 
with  such  people  as  those  who  occupied  the  forests  of 
North  America,  as  with  the  civilized  nations  of  Europe; 
yet  from  the  experience  of  William  Penn's  settlement 
here,  we  have  ample  reason  to  believe  that  if  the  whole 
continent  of  North  America  had  been  colonized  upon 
the  same  Christian  principles,  and  the  system  been 
steadily  maintained,  we  might  at  this  day  have  pointed 
to  the  Western  world  for  a  verification  of  the  prophetic 
declaration,  that  'nation  should  not  lift  up  sword  against 
nation,  or  the  people  learn  war  any  more.' 

"Signed  at  the  time  of  our  general  meeting  held  in 
Philadelphia,  the  i6th  of  the  first  month,  1718-19." — 
Friend's  Library,  Vol.  V.,  p.  328. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  READING  MEETING  in  England, 
cited  by  J.  Francis  Fisher : 

"He  was  a  man  of  great  abilities;  of  an  excellent 
sweetness  of  disposition ;  quick  of  thought  and  ready 
of  utterance,  full  of  the  qualifications  of  true  discipleship, 
even  love  without  dissimulation;  as  extensive  in  charity, 
as  comprehensive  in  knowledge,  and  to  whom  malice 
and  ingratitude  were  utter  strangers;  so  ready  to  forgive 
enemies,  that  the  ungrateful  were  not  excepted. 

"In  fine,  he  was  learned  without  vanity;  apt  without 
forwardness;  facetious  in  conversation,  yet  weighty  and 
serious.  Of  an  extraordinary  greatness  of  mind,  yet 
void  of  the  stain  of  ambition;  as  free  from  rigid  gravity,. 


97 

as  he  was  clear  of  unseemly  levity;  a  man,  a  scholar,  a 
friend,  a  minister,  surpassing  in  speculative  endowments, 
whose  memory  will  be  valued  with  the  wise,  and  blessed 
with  the  just."— Mem.  H.  S.  of  Pa.,  Vol.  III.,  P.  II.,  p.  102. 

THE  ABBE  RAYNAL'S  TESTIMONY:  "His  arrival  in  the 
New  World  was  made  notable  by  an  Act  of  Equity,  by 
which  he  endeared  his  person  and  made  his  principles 
acceptable.  Little  satisfied  with  the  right  that  the  ces- 
sion from  the  British  Ministry  had  given  to  his  establish- 
ment, he  determined  to  purchase  from  the  natives  the 
vast  territory  he  proposed  to  colonize.  He  legitimated 
his  possession  as  much  as  was  in  his  power;  in  fine  he 
supplied  by  the  use  he  made  of  it,  what  was  wanting  in 
the  right  of  possession.  The  Americans  entertained  as 
much  affection  for  his  new  colony  as  they  had  conceived 
of  estrangement  for  all  those  which  had  been  founded 
in  their  neighborhood,  without  consulting  their  rights  or 
their  wishes.  Hence  a  confidence  was  established  between 
the  two  peoples,  of  which  nothing  could  alter  the  har- 
mony. A  mutual  good  faith  bound  them  more  and 
more  closely  together. 

"The  humanity  of  Penn  was  not  confined  to  the 
savages;  it  extended  itself  to  all  those  who  wished  to 
inhabit  his  Empire.  As  the  happiness  of  men  depends 
upon  the  character  of  their  legislation,  he  founded  his 
Empire  on  two  principles;  the  splendor  of  the  State  and 
the  happiness  of  the  individual — liberty  and  property. 
If  it  be  permitted  to  use  the  language  of  fable  for  an 


98 

event  which  seems  fabulous,  I  would  say,  that  Astraea 
ascended  to  heaven  since  so  long  a  time,  had  re-de- 
scended to  earth  again,  and  that  the  reign  of  peace  and 
innocence  had  begun  once  more  among  men. 

"It  is  here  that  the  writer  and  his  reader  breathe  once 
more;  it  is  here  that  they  find  relief  from  the  disgust, 
the  horror  and  grief  which  modern  history,  and  espe- 
cially of  the  European  settlements  in  America,  inspire. 

"Until  this  event  possession  had  meant  depopulation; 
civilization,  destruction  of  the  hemisphere,  which  yet 
smokes  with  the  blood  of  its  peoples,  civilized  and 
savage. 

"This  virtuous  legislator  established  his  Society  on 
the  basis  of  toleration ;  it  was  his  desire  that  every  man 
who  recognized  a  Deity,  should  participate  in  the  rights 
of  citizenship,  and  every  Christian  be  eligible  to  State 
employments.  But  he  left  every  one  at  liberty  to  in- 
voke the  Supreme  Being  as  he  thought  proper.  He 
would  not  admit  a  reigning  church  in  Pennsylvania,  nor 
force  contributions  for  building  places  of  public  worship, 
nor  compel  any  person  to  attend  them. 

"Penn,  attached  to  his  name,  was  desirous  that  the 
propriety  of  the  settlement  which  he  had  formed  should 
remain  perpetually  in  his  family;  but  he  deprived  it  of 
any  decisive  influence  in  public  resolutions,  and  ordained 
that  it  should  not  exercise  any  act  of  authority  without 
the  concurrence  of  the  deputies  of  the  people.  Every 
citizen  having  an  interest  in  the  law  by  having  any  in  the 


99 

object  of  it,  was  eligible  as  elector,  and  might  be 
chosen.  To  avoid  as  much  as  possible  every  kind  of 
corruption,  it  was  ordainecf  that  representatives  should 
be  chosen  by  suffrages  secretly  given. 

"Never  perhaps  had  virtue  inspired  legislation  more 
conducive  to  human  happiness.  Opinions,  sentiments 
and  manners  corrected  what  was  defective  and  supplied 
what  was  imperfect. 

"The  prosperity  of  Pennsylvania  was  therefore  very 
notable.  That  Republic  without  wars,  without  conquests, 
without  effort,  without  any  of  those  revolutions  which 
astonish  the  eyes  of  the  inquiet  and  passionate,  became 
a  spectacle  for  the  entire  universe. 

"  His  neighbors,  in  spite  of  their  barbarity,  were  en- 
chained by  the  sweetness  of  his  manners,  and  strangers, 
in  spite  of  their  corruption,  rendered  homage  to  his  vir- 
tues. Every  nation  wondered  to  see  realized  and  re- 
newed the  heroic  age  of  antiquity,  that  the  manners  and 
laws  of  Europe  had  made  seem  fabulous." — Histoire 
Philosopkique.  A  Geneve,  MDCCLXXX.  Tome  Quat. 
272-345.  Merc.  Lib. 


NEITHER  TO  MY  FATHER,  THE  DUKE,  NOR  THE  KING. 

THEREFORE,   TO   THE   PEOPLE  OF   PENNSYLVANIA,   THE    HAT   OF    THE 
FOUNDER,    EXPRESSES    AUTHORITY   MORE   ABSOLUTELY    THAN   ANY   DIADEM 

GLITTERING  WITH  THE  SLAVERY  OF  THE  MINES;  SYMBOLIZES  FREEDOM  MORE 
ENDURINGLY  THAN  THE  CAP  OF  THE  PHRYGIAN,  RED  WITH  THE  REVOLU- 
TIONS OF  CENTURIES;  ILLUSTRATES  CHRISTIANITY  MORE  TRULY  THAN  THE 
MITRE  OF  WHATEVER  PRIESTHOOD,  OF  WHATEVER  THEOLOGY.  IT  QUIETLY 
AND  PREVAILINGLY  ASSERTED,  AGAINST  PRINCIPALITIES  AND  POWERS,  AND 
THINGS  PRESENT  AND  THINGS  TO  COME,  THE  ULTIMATE  EQUALITY,  AND  DIG- 
NITY OF  OUR  COMMON  HUMANITY. 


(100) 


DAVID    McKAY, 

SUCCESSOR  TO 

REES  WELSH  &  CO.'S 

M  I  s»    I    I  .  I    \  M-.  o  I   s    i:  I   s  I  M  ss 


published,  Boo^elle^  and 


£3  SOUTH  NINTH  STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 

New  or  Old  Books  of  every  description  Bought  and  Sold. 
Rare  old  editions  of  desirable  Books  a  spe- 
cialty.   Orders  solicited. 

I  find,  however,  that  the  greatest  difficulty  lies,  not  in 
the  selling,  but  in  the  procuring  of  good  books,  and  will 
esteem  it  a  great  favor  if  any  one  having  a  library  or  any 
collection  of  books  to  dispose  of  will  advise  through  mail 
or  otherwise. 

Above  request  is  made,  knowing  that  I  have  every 
facility  for  using,  and  therefore  can  offer  terms  more  sat- 
isfactory than  houses  where  books  are  bought  and  stored 
away  to  await  accidental  customers. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

DAVID  McKAY. 


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